Have you ever wondered how much data is being generated every day? According to the big data statistics from 2017 (the last time anyone dared measure it), all internet users in the world collectively produced an average of 2.5 quintillion bytes of data on a daily basis. Note that at the time, there were “only” 3.5 billion internet users in the world, and by 2020 their number has increased by another billion.
Business organizations have always been aware of the importance of data and how it can shape their business intelligence and decision-making processes. Nowadays, they have access to more data than ever before, so much so that, in some cases, it is too much to handle. The data below provides more insights into how companies use data to their benefit.
Top 10 Big Data Statistics and Facts
The global big data analytics market was valued at $240.56 billion in 2021.
99% of data experts believe that data is important to their organizations.
On average, 54% of the data that organizations analyze is generated internally.
The average company manages 162.9TB of data.
73.7% of companies say they have appointed Chief Data or Analytics Officers in 2023.
Only 26.5% of companies believe that they are data-driven.
Data platforms and data lakes are the top big data investment priorities for 26.3% of companies.
69% of organizations have already implemented data lakes.
41.4% of small businesses spend between $10,001 and $25,000 annually to maintain their big data analytics solution.
60% of healthcare executives say their organizations are using predictive analytics.
General Big Data Stats
99% of data experts believe that data is important to their organizations.
However, the stats also show that 97% of data experts face challenges when trying to use data. Almost half, or 49%, of organizations say they have a hard time ensuring the quality of data they are using, while 41% struggle to get fast access to it. When it comes to their motivations, 69% of companies use data to increase their revenue, 62% do it to optimize their costs, and 50% rely on data to mitigate their risks.
(Talend)
On average, 54% of the data that organizations analyze is generated internally.
Stats on big data generation also reveal that externally generated data accounts for 25%, while the remaining 21% of data is a combination of both. Furthermore, sales and financial transactions are the main sources of data for 56% of organizations. Another 51% say they use data generated from leads and sales contacts from their customer databases, and 39% analyze data generated from their email and productivity apps. Finally, stats show that 19% of companies are managing less than 1TB of data, while only 7% manage more than 1PB.
(HubSpot)
The average company manages 162.9TB of data.
According to the big data facts from a recent survey, the difference between the average volume of data managed by SMBs and large enterprises is huge. Namely, SMBs manage only 47.81TB of data on average, while this figure jumps to 347.56TB for large enterprises. However, stats also show that SMBs expect the volume of data they manage to grow by an average of 138% in the next 12 to 18 months. The growth of data volume for large enterprises isn’t as rapid, as they expect an average of 33% in the same time period.
(HubSpot)
Big Data Growth Statistics
73.7% of companies say they have appointed Chief Data or Analytics Officers in 2023.
As the stats reveal, in some cases, it is one person that is working both of these roles. In comparison, ten years earlier, in 2012, the percentage of organizations with designated specialists for these roles was only 12%. Additionally, 92.1% of companies report a return on their investments in big data and AI, and as a result, 91.7% say they are increasing their investments in these technologies.
(New Vantage)
The global big data analytics market was valued at $240.56 billion in 2021.
Future forecasts are predicting a further rise of the big data market and expect it to increase its value to $271.83 billion by 2023. Its growth rate should remain steady throughout the decade and reach $655.53 billion by 2029. The predictive analytics segment of the market is expected to grow rapidly in the near future and increase its revenue from $5.29 billion in 2020 to $41.52 billion in 2028. On the other hand, the social media analytics segment projections show slower growth, from $7.01 billion in 2021 to $26.3 billion in 2028.
(Statista)
Only 26.5% of companies believe that they are data-driven.
A recent survey on big data growth revealed that companies are still struggling with creating a big data culture. As cited by 91.9% of the respondents, cultural barriers are the main challenge to becoming a data-driven organization, and only 19.3% reported already having established such a culture at their workplace. Of those who can’t call themselves data-driven organizations yet, 60.4% say it will take another two or three years, and 30.8% believe it will take four, five, or maybe more years before they get there.
(New Vantage)
Data platforms and data lakes are the top big data investment priorities for 26.3% of companies.
Statistics on big data investments further reveal that 25.3% of organizations prioritize investing in the health and quality of their data, while cloud migration is the top investment priority for 14.8% of them. Furthermore, 12.7% of companies prioritize investing in data literacy, 7.4% in data catalog, and 13.5% have other priorities. Lastly, stats show that the majority of organizations, or 64.3%, are focusing their big data initiatives on growth and innovation, while 35.7% are focusing on regulation and efficiency.
(New Vantage)
Data Lakes Usage Statistics
69% of organizations have already implemented data lakes.
Big data industry trends additionally show another 23% of organizations that plan on deploying data lakes but haven’t done so as of yet. The popularity of data lakes should be expected when 59% of IT specialists believe that more technology is the best solution for the current analytical challenges. In contrast, more people, more time, and higher budgets were the solutions cited by no more than 13% of IT professionals. Moreover, 38% of analysts with a data lake report that they can respond to data requests within an hour, while only 24% of those without it say the same.
(Chaos Search)
87% of companies report that data lakes have improved their ability to make decisions.
The growth in big data utilization, particularly by using data lakes, is easy to understand when close to nine out of ten companies report relying on it for decision-making. Additionally, 54% of organizations say data lakes allow them to get analytical results faster, and 52% say the analytical results it provides are better or have a higher integrity. Finally, another 52% of organizations say the use of data lakes has improved their data security, governance, data controls, and compliance.
(Chaos Search)
66% of organizations use their data lakes to analyze network and infrastructure data.
Big data stats further reveal that 58% of companies use their data lakes to analyze operational and machine-generate data, while 55% use them to process CRM and marketing data to inform their business decisions. Just over half of the organizations, or 51%, use them to analyze financial data, while using data lakes for the analysis of data from third-party sources is not that common and is only practiced by 38% of the companies.
(Chaos Search)
48% of organizations find it too time-consuming to get data into or out of their data lake.
In addition to all the benefits, big data statistics also show that companies face certain challenges when using data lakes for big data analyses. While almost half of the organizations find the process too tedious, another 30% say they lack the end-user visualization tools to connect with the lakes directly, which often results in data duplication. Furthermore, 29% say they have a hard time taking action on the insights they collected from their lakes, and 26% say they can’t access the data they need to analyze in the lake.
(Chaos Search)
Big Data Use Statistics
Only 2% of companies retain log data for less than a day.
Furthermore, big data usage and retention stats show that 7% of organizations keep their log data for less than a week, 21% retain it for one to four weeks, and 26% keep it for one to six months. Interestingly, just 24% of companies retain log data indefinitely, even though organizations that keep it for longer, are less likely to get breached. Namely, 47% of companies who keep log data for less than seven months report experiencing a breach in the last year, while the percentage drops to 24% for those that keep it for longer than seven months.
(Chaos Search)
70% of organizations use big data log management to improve their security.
The statistics on companies using big data and log management reveal that besides security, IT monitoring is the second most common use case of these technologies, cited by 68% of organizations. Additionally, 48% cite business intelligence and analytics, and 28% cite business operations as their primary use cases. The stats also show that the ideal log data volume capture rate is 81-100%, according to 78% of organizations; however, only 28% of companies actually capture that much.
(Chaos Search)
41.4% of small businesses spend between $10,001 and $25,000 annually to maintain their big data analytics solution.
According to the most recent statistics on small companies with big data solutions, cloud-based systems are the most popular among small businesses, with 59.5% of them using such tools for big data analytics. Additionally, 83% of small businesses use email marketing reports, 64% use website analytics, and 52% use social media analytics. Their main motivation for using big data solutions is finding new customers, as cited by 73%, though another 67% say they use them to retain their current customers, and 65% use them to improve the experience of their customers.
(1Path, SCORE)
60% of healthcare executives say their organizations are using predictive analytics.
Healthcare big data statistics further reveal that another 20% of healthcare organizations plan to start using predictive analytics within the next year, while another 9% are expecting to start in the next one to five years. Only 4% of healthcare organizations have no plans for implementing predictive analytics in their work.
Of those organizations that are already using it, 42% report improved patient satisfaction, 39% say they have reduced their costs, and 33% have increased their profitability. On the other hand, their biggest challenges are the lack of skilled employees, cited by 13%, the regulatory issues, cited by 12%, and an equal 12% say there is too much data to analyze.
(SOA)
Big Data Statistics - The Bottom Line
As the stats indicate, all businesses, regardless of their industry or size, realize the importance of data, even though most of them face overwhelming volumes of it. There is no question whether businesses rely on data, but rather, what are they doing to make the most of its potential. The current trends suggest that further investments in technology, particularly data lakes, offer a part of a solution to this challenge, but clearly, there is more work to be done.
These might be the most challenging times in the history of big data due to the sheer amount of data companies manage. As a result, it is going to take some time and effort for businesses to instill big data culture and become truly data-driven to get the insights that only big data analytics can provide.
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