Data and analytics start-ups continue to attract investment to fuel growth, NewVantage Partners’ executive survey 2019 reports a 91.6% increase in Big Data/AI investments while LUMA states a 50% increase in MarTech M&A transactions.
Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank is a prime example of rapid investments in tech and despite continued growth in shareholder value of $13bn in the last quarter, the lender is facing heightened pressures from its core investors over its governance and investments. Latest financial figures showed a loss of $8.8bn in the first Vision fund, meanwhile executives plan to raise more capital in Vision fund II.
The 2019 edition of the New Vantage Partners Big Data and AI Executive Survey includes many results that are reasons for celebration. They include:
- There was a higher participation rate in the survey than ever before, suggesting that more executives believe the topic is important.
- 90% of those who completed the survey are “C-level” executives—chief data, analytics, or information officers. A decade ago, only one of these jobs even existed.
- 92% of the respondents are increasing their pace of investment in big data and AI.
- 62% have already seen measurable results from their investments in big data and AI (a bit less than in 2018, but still pretty good).
- 48% say their organization competes on data and analytics. When Tom introduced this concept in 2006, perhaps 5% of large organizations would have said they did so.
- 31% have a “data-driven organization,” and 28% a “data culture.” Granted that these are minorities, but perhaps it’s impressive that nearly a third of organizations have brought about these transformations.
The motivation for further change is also quite high, suggesting more movement in the future. 75% fear disruption from new entrants, and 88% feel greater urgency to invest in big data and AI. 92% are driven by positive objectives—transformation, agility, or competition—and only 5% are driven by cost reduction.
Spending levels are also up in accordance with the respondents’ attitudes. The 55% of companies spending over $50M on these resources is up by 15% over 2018, and 21% are spending over half a billion dollars on them!
