IDC: APeJ companies are maturing in their use of big data and analytics

Asia Pacific organisations are fast maturing in their capabilities to leverage big data and analytics (BDA) technologies with 34% progressing to more mature stages like the repeatable and managed stages.

Data-rich industries like financial services, communications & media, and services (including Internet companies) are leading in cross-divisional adoption and capitalisation of their data assets.

Countries differ in maturity progression. Korea is one of the fastest-growing countries in terms of BDA maturity, moving ahead of Singapore. 

IDC Asia/Pacific has released its 2016 IDC MaturityScape Benchmark Report for Big Data and Analytics in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)*. The report highlights that Asia Pacific organisations are fast maturing in their capabilities to leverage big data and analytics (BDA) technologies, with 34% progressing to more mature stages like the repeatable and managed stages. This is close to a fivefold increase compared to only 7% in 2014.

“At the repeatable and managed stages, organisations begin to realise the business value of their BDA investment, and some created new products and services to bring in new revenue streams, says Qiao Li, Senior Market Analyst, Big Data and Analytics Research.

However, more than 65% of organisations in the region remain at the first two stages (ad hoc or opportunistic). This majority has just started their BDA journey, and are learning about and experimenting with BDA technologies to address business challenges.

Data-rich industries like financial services, communications & media, and services (including Internet companies) are leading in cross-divisional adoption and capitalisation of their data assets.

Countries differ in maturity progression. Korea is one of the fastest-growing countries in terms of BDA maturity, moving ahead of Singapore. On the other hand, Hong Kong has progressed the least in the past year. This year, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Singapore are leading in BDA maturity in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), followed by Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan and India. Emerging ASEAN countries remain new to the maturity curve.

Key differentiators for Thrivers**

The MaturityScape Benchmark assesses organisations along five dimensions: vision, data, technology, people and process. According to IDC, organisations which achieved success with their BDA initiatives displayed the following traits:

Established a BDA strategy and data-driven culture across the enterprise

Data quality is governed by centralised processes, metrics and methods

A central architecture board governs all BDA deployments

Collaboration processes are in place among staff to share relevant data, metrics, and best practices

Data management and analysis process are defined, measured, and managed based on clearly understood metrics

"Availability of skilled resources is a common roadblock to BDA initiatives among Asia Pacific excluding Japan organisations. Organisations can consider looking to develop internally on BDA skills through sharing resources, training, and partnering with service providers. It will be crucial to establish a data-driven culture and encourage knowledge sharing to develop internal capabilities," commented Chwee Chua, AVP, Analytics, Big Data and Cognitive Systems research in IDC Asia/Pacific.

*IDC MaturityScape Benchmark: Big Data and Analytics in Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) 2016 leveraged IDC's Big Data and Analytics MaturityScape framework to assess organisations through a survey of 731 organisations across 10 countries in Asia Pacific, conducted in October to December 2015. The survey was based on a structured questionnaire of 30 questions. These survey questions were focused on the five dimensions of IDC's Big Data and Analytics MaturityScape. For each dimension, a set of questions assessed the level of capability/maturity for the dimension.

**Thrivers are organisations where the benefits of recent BDA projects, in aggregate, met or exceeded expectations.