Crazy Numbers Department: Big Data Spending in 2019

November 26, 2015

It is almost 2016. IDC, an outfit owned by an optimistic outfit, has taken a tiny step forward. The IDC wizards answered this question, “How big will Big Data spending be in 2019?” Yep, that is 36 months in the future. There might be more money in predicting Super Bowl winners, what stock to pick, and the steps to take to minimize risk at a restaurant. But no.

According to the true believers in the Content Loop, “IDC Days Big Data Spending to Hit 48.6 Billion in 2019.” I like that point six, which seems to suggest that real data were analyzed exhaustively.

The write up reports:

The market for big data technology and services will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent through 2019, according to a forecast issued by research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) on Monday. IDC predicts annual spending will reach $48.6 billion in 2019. IDC divides the big data market into three major submarkets: infrastructure, software and services. The research firm expects all three submarkets to grow over the next five years, with software — information management, discovery and analytics and applications software — leading the charge with a CAGR of 26 percent.

I will go out on a limb. I predict that IDC will offer for sale three reports, maybe more. I hope the company communicates with its researchers to avoid the mess created when IDC wizard Dave Schubmehl tried to pitch eight pages of wonderfulness based on my research for a mere $3,500 without my permission. Ooops. Those IDC folks are too busy to do the contract thing I assumed.

A Schubmehl-type IDC wizard offered this observation with only a soupçon of jargon:

The ever-increasing appetite of businesses to embrace emerging big data-related software and infrastructure technologies while keeping the implementation costs low has led to the creation of a rich ecosystem of new and incumbent suppliers…. At the same time, the market opportunity is spurring new investments and M&A activity as incumbent suppliers seek to maintain their relevance by developing comprehensive solutions and new go-to-market paths.– Ashish Nadkarni, program director, Enterprise Servers and Storage, IDC

Yes, ever increasing and go to spirit. Will the concept apply to IDC’s revenues? Those thrilled with the Big Numbers are the venture folks pumping money into Big Data companies with the type of enthusiastic good cheer as Russian ground support troops are sending with the Backfires, Bears,  and Blackjacks bound for Syria.

Thinking about international tension, my hunch is that the global economy seems a bit dicey, maybe unstable, at this time. I am not too excited at the notion of predicting what will happen in all things digital in the next few days. Years. No way, gentle reader.

Thinking about three years in the future strikes me as a little too bold. I wonder if the IDC predictive methods have been applied to DraftKings and FanDuel games?

Stephen E Arnold, November 26, 2015

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