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One of the great lessons big data is showing us is that, just because a company captures and stores heavy amounts of data, doesn’t mean that data has value. As always, value hinges on context. And the value of big data hinges on a cycle of analysis, insight, and action. It’s the impact of the action that quantifies the value of data. What this means is that at the end of the day, businesses aren’t so much interested in data as they are the insights that come from it after the tedious work is done. At the same time, plenty of businesses lack the tools and human resources necessary to sort through the data they gather and turn it into an analytics model. It can be a long road to get to the goal and plenty doubt they would see an ROI for their efforts in overcoming big data challenges. Enter insights-as-a-service.
The ‘D’ stands for ‘W’
A recent study published by IBM classifies enterprises that have become sufficiently data-rich and analytically driven to transform their entire business model as a new generation of businesses. Generation D, they’re called. As the IBM report states, Generation D businesses “understand the unique and powerful value of data and analytics, and they know how to combine that with cloud, social, and mobile technologies…” Among the over 1000 businesses IBM polled in the study, only 19 percent qualify for Gen D status. Meanwhile, the bottom 29 percent classify as ‘Traditionalists’ with respect to their approach to data, using only a limited number of structured data sources and applying only descriptive analytics. Further along, another group that makes up 21 percent, were categorized as ‘Analytically ambitious’ enterprises that employ a broader spectrum of data sources and view data and analytics as a high investment priority. And an ambitious 31 percent fell just below the Gen D status, under the ‘Analytically enabled’ category. They are described as enterprises that pull data from a range of sources and are beginning to reap the benefits, although their methodologies remain fragmented and not ‘systematically applied across the business.’
So, how does achieving ‘Generation D’ status amount to a ‘W’ for any business? Because ‘Generation D’ enterprises were found to be three times more likely to excel at developing insights regarding their customers and marketplace. Remember insights? With those insights, they become seven better at developing new revenue streams, nine times more efficient at penetrating new markets, and three times more efficient in their overall operations.
What is Insights-as-a-Service?
In a nutshell, Insights-as-a-Service is a quicker, straighter path to optimizing business results. Insights-as-a-Service is typically a cloud-based product offering that draws from a range of data sources that an enterprise lacks. Sources may include publicly available data, anonymized data, competitive data, and comparative data. The bottom line is that insights tend to be directly actionable because that is the whole point. It’s a slick shortcut, and it’s gaining popularity. Most large enterprises, 70 percent according to IDC, already purchase external data from somewhere. Those that don’t will be by 2019.
It’s not about the data, it’s about the value-add
Big data has become an overused business buzzword whose meaning and value have become somewhat obscured. That is to say, it isn’t the bigness of data, per se, that makes it valuable. It’s the insights it yields, the actions that follow, and ultimately the measurable results of those actions that count. In October 2015, Forrester published a report analyzing why data-driven practices fail. The report prescribes, “closing the gap between more data and business insight.” That’s precisely what the emerging Insights-as-a-Service industry looks to accomplish.