IBM Study Finds that Analytics Are Approaching Saturation
September 9, 2014
I read “New IBM Study Reveals 3 Key Characteristics of the Most Successful Companies.” Like most big company research that finds its way into content marketing programs, the information is a rah rah for IBM.
I noted that one of the study’s allegedly objective findings may suggest a rather ominous factoid for purveyors of fancy analytics systems.
Here’s the statement from the article I noted:
The study found that nearly 90 percent of the more than 1,400 respondents have mature big data and analytics capabilities, while 60 percent plan to increase investment in this area by 10 percent or more over the next two years. Additionally, nearly seven out of 10 pacesetter organizations make analytical insights a significant part of their decision-making process.
For vendors, if the 90 percent number for having mature Big Data and analytics capabilities is on the money, revenue will flow from swap outs, upgrades, and services. The flood of analytics start ups may find that their revenue goals are going to be difficult to meet. Furthermore, consolidation is not just likely. Consolidation is inevitable.
Another point that struck me is that 70 percent of the IBM sample already rely on fancy math to help managers make decisions. From my vantage point, the thrust of many management decisions boil down to cost cutting and acquisitions. Does this mean that the marketing is approaching saturation?
Innovation seems to be ripping along, but the velocity comes from shorter product cycles, non repairable products, and services that change with each marketing brochure rewrite.
Check out the study. Draw your own conclusions.
For me, the search vendors pitching information retrieval systems that tame Big Data and eliminate the hassle of traditional analytics via queries may be late to the party. If a vendor is already at the party, growth becomes a challenge unless search and content processing vendors become consulting and service firms. Proprietary software vendors may find themselves forced to embrace the open source approach to software and hope their sales professionals can generate sufficient revenues to pay the bills, pay back investors, and generate a profit. The US economy is in recovery mode, according to some, which search and content processing vendors will break out of the findability herd?
Stephen E Arnold, September 9, 2014
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
