Small and medium-sized companies’ investments in Big Data and Analytics cover only 13% of total spending, but will grow in the future
The shift towards digital and intelligent forms of processing brought about by the fourth revolution in industry has meant that companies collect an unlimited amount of data. Information that, when analyzed properly, allows businesses to achieve great results.
We’re talking in this case about Big Data and Analytics. There are a number of ways that a business can leverage this huge flow of information. Meta data can be used to understand what has happened in the past (this model is called Descriptive Analytics). A company can also use Big Data to predict what might happen (Predictive Analytics), or to simulate how to behave in the presence of possible situations (Prescriptive Analytics). Depending on the solution chosen, this information can significantly improve business management. In Italy, as suggested by a study conducted by the Politecnico di Milano, the Big Data and Analytics market in 2016 reached a value of over 900 million euros, achieving a 15% increase over last year.
SMEs and Big Data: an evolving situation
To drive investments, towards these two business solutions, are mainly large companies, whose expenditure covers about 87%. On the other hand, small and medium-sized enterprises continue to remain unattracted by Big Data and Analytics models. Their investments represent, in fact, only 13% of the 900 million euros. According to the forecasts of many experts, however, we are faced with an evolving situation. To survive in the future, in fact, SMEs will be forced to use these analytics systems.
The North-East invests more
To invest more in Big Data and Analytics, according to the Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, are the small and medium-sized companies located in the North-East of Italy (39%), followed by companies in the Centre (35%), those in the South (31%) and finally the North-West (30%).
In relation to the type of Analytics models, small and medium-sized companies mainly use descriptive analytics (26%) and predictive analytics (16%), while very few SMEs use the other system.