IDC: Big Data Spending To Soar Over Next 5 Years

Concerns have been mounting in the Internet of Things (IoT) recently. Equipment manufacturers have been tussling over standards prompting some to believe that a ‘Betamax’ situation may be created where some devices cannot connect to the IoT grid.

If such a situation occurs it could seriously impact the adoption of Big Data projects. Big Data does not depend on the IoT – there are many other types of large database – but the constant flow of IoT data means that most IoT projects will also require a Big Data element.

However there is some good news from the analyst community. New data from IDC suggests that the growth rate for spending on Big Data between 2014 and 2019 will be just under $50bn – that’s compounded growth of 23.1% each year.

The real elephant in the room for the Big Data market is the security of collected data. There have been several damaging data leaks by major organisation in recent months. The danger for companies that are collecting large amounts of data is that leaks of private data will cause brand damage so serious that companies could even face an existential threat.

IDC believe that large companies are aware of this danger and are planning their Big Data infrastructure with security in mind.

“The ability to leverage big data and analytics to develop an integrated view of customer activities and business operations will provide competitive differentiation to companies across industries,” said IDC programme director Jessica Goepfert.

“However, in addition to the huge opportunities, big data presents some significant risks and liabilities to organisations. Line of business and IT executives will need to approach these ongoing challenges with awareness, flexibility, adaptability, and responsibility.”

This is an area of the technology business that is growing by around one quarter every year right now. There will need to be some big mistakes to derail this market, but it is possible. The constant stream of security stories in the media shows that the public are more aware than ever of the dangers ahead. Companies adopting Big Data need to ensure they are always one step ahead of the data thieves.