Data is no longer an isolated IT discussion. It is a business necessity supported by IT. But make no mistake -- while businesses need to answer questions around cost reduction, operational efficiencies, supply chain performance and customer needs using data, it is IT that must get its arms around the staggering volumes of data being generated by today's businesses. It is IT's task to turn the intimidating flood of Big Data into a coherent stream of actionable business intelligence. Where does your business stand with regard to Big Data?

A 2013 Economist Intelligence Unit Report called 'The Data Directive' commissioned by Wipro examined the industries that are using data. More importantly, it looked at how the growing stockpile of data is being used. We wanted to know if data lead to true strategic change as opposed to incremental operational gains. And how does data affect the strategic management of business at the C-suite level? The report showed that 22% in the financial services sector, 30% in the technology sector and 40% in the professional services sector were already prepared with data management strategies. The least prepared were manufacturing (16%) and retailers (13%).

The research threw up a significant fact. Of the 300 C-suite executives who participated in the study "only a tiny fraction (3%) is not currently prioritizing data collection." Of the executives polled, 72% considered themselves effective at translating data into insightful information (see figure below). This means that data is being widely leveraged to drive strategic change as opposed to being used as a lever to improve operational efficiencies.

Is your business sinking in the chaos of numbers? Or is it swimming along with the current? Many businesses have been overwhelmed by the chaos that Big Data (generated by customers, credit card transactions, sensors, devices, systems, processes, documents, spreadsheets, web pages, click streams, video, social feeds, instant messaging, enterprise systems etc) is throwing up.

Our study pinpointed the top three barriers to using data in strategic planning and decision making across high-growth and no-growth firms (see figure below). While both categories recognized data quality and difficulties in identifying what data to use and what to discard, high-growth firms admitted to a lack of skills in managing data.

The lack of skills – and tools -- to manage data and analytics may be frustrating your efforts to turn investments in data collection into real business intelligence. This is because traditional approaches to slicing and dicing data are inadequate when it comes to managing the massive volumes, variety and velocity of Big Data. Businesses across the world are harnessing the power of in-memory computing and pattern hubs to tame data in motion. They are relying on tools that help them move around the data and across its various dimensions, to uncover new business opportunities, reduce cost of IT, prevent fraud and predict customer behaviour.

Without doubt, Big Data is complex. But its striking upside makes it difficult for organizations to ignore it. Where should your journey to harness Big Data for strategic gain begin ?