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A surprising number of companies are already seeing returns on their big data investments, according to Avanade's "Is Big Data Producing Big Returns?" global survey of more than 550 business executives and IT leaders.

In Singapore, for example, 76% of respondents are using data to increase revenue. In doing this, 53% of respondents are increasing existing revenue streams while 47% of respondents are creating new sources of revenue. Overall, 84% of respondents globally report big data helps them make better business decisions.

"Big data has become everyone's business and it has gained a top spot on the agenda of business leaders for the real value it has begun to create," said Craig Dower, president of Avanade Asia Pacific. "Today, the technologies used to leverage big data for business purposes have reached a tipping point - widespread companies and employees are able to find financial and competitive benefits from their data."

Beyond tangible business value, evidence shows big data has become pervasive -- more types of employees have more access to more technology options to manage and analyze data. In just the last 12 months, 60% of respondents in Singapore said, more technology options became available to analyze and manage data. Further, the survey found companies are investing in that technology with 96% of Singapore respondents already using tools to manage and analyze data today.

However, all of the Singapore businesses surveyed do not consider data analysts a part of their IT staff. Instead, more companies are now distributing data analysis expertise to line-of-business groups throughout the company. That is evidenced by 68% of Singapore respondents reporting that data management is now embedded throughout their business. Globally, 58% of respondents do this.

Further, 68% of Singapore companies say more employees than ever before are involved in making decisions as a result of more widely available company data.

Despite these developments, 88% of Singapore respondents still report obstacles in managing and analyzing data. The same percentage of respondents also feels that their companies need to develop new skills to turn data into business insights, compared to 63% globally.

Further, the shifts in how employees work are making the rapid growth of data more challenging to manage. Employee mobility and cloud computing were identified by 88% of respondents as a key trend causing companies to rethink their data management strategies. Social networking was the other disruptive trend identified by 84% of respondents.

However, 92% of Singaporean businesses surveyed feel that their data management systems are prepared to cope with an influx of mobile and social data in the next 12 months, compared to 70% globally.

"The challenges of big data remain, but the opportunities are even greater. Business leaders are really moving from defense to offense in their data management strategies," said Dower. "Forward-looking companies are empowering more people across the enterprise with the tools and skills needed to make better business decisions and ultimately, harness the power that big data promises."
 
The "Is Big Data Producing Big Returns?" survey was conducted by Wakefield Research, an independent research firm, in April 2012, and surveyed 569 C-level executives, IT decision makers and business unit leaders at top companies located in 18 countries across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and South Africa.