Your Data is Your Pulse: Don’t Let Your Company Flat-Line

By Falynne Finagan, leader of Global Social Marketing

Instant gratification is now the norm. When new technology bursts on to the scene promising to revolutionize the way we work and live, users expect big results – immediately. Our patience wears thin and disappointment sets in when the hype doesn’t meet reality – within seconds. Some argue that big data has fallen into this cycle – great expectations paired with lackluster results or outright confusion. How to make sense of all of it.

New research shows business leaders have moved beyond simply acknowledging the importance of big data analytics to realizing its benefits and finding new ways to work through its challenges. According to the commissioned study of C-level executives across five European countries, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Xerox:

• 56 percent of respondents are already harnessing the potential of big data and seeing business benefits.
• 72 percent report that insights gleaned from big data improve their competitive advantage.
• 74 percent expect to see a positive return on big data investments within 12 months of implementation.

 Big Data’s Opportunity Outweighs Challenges

Those numbers are promising. Yet big data security and privacy concerns still keep executives up at night, and tackling inaccuracies in data is an ongoing challenge. Process becomes ever important, and, along with training, must be sharpened so organizations can more easily uncover the insights that bring value to customers. Encouragingly, businesses are not letting the challenges outweigh the opportunity, but are carefully choosing the right partners.

At Xerox, we’re a leader in helping clients wrap their arms around data, integrate it into their workflows, and create solutions that improve how people work and live. You may be surprised to know that some of this work touches your life every day. For instance, Xerox taps into big data to provide transportation departments, such as the City of Los Angeles, with solutions that efficiently manage parking spaces. Parking sensors monitor the traffic as it flows throughout the day and adjusts parking prices accordingly. The system helps ease congestion on the city’s busy downtown streets.

Xerox technology can also read license plate numbers at toll booths, and detect the number of passengers in a vehicle cruising in HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes. In healthcare, we’re using data analytics and video cameras to monitor patient conditions without wires, discomfort or risk of an infection. We’ve seen first-hand the powerful ways data analytics can capture real time information, be used for immediate process improvements, and help predict future outcomes.

Effectively addressing the challenges of big data is the new competitive advantage. Download the full report here.

Subscribe to this blog and receive email updates when we publish a new article.