According to Cisco, big data holds great potential for businesses, however it posses challenges to IT managers regarding the security of data. A study conducted by the company shows that IT managers are confronted with several challenges while adopting big data solutions with security being the foremost, followed by budget and staffing.
Security concerns were most prevalent in China (45 per cent), India (41 per cent), the US (36 per cent) and Brazil (33 per cent). Further, 16 per cent of respondents cited lack of budget as the next big hindrance in the adoption of big data. Another 14 per cent respondents believe that the paucity of time to study big data and its implications is also responsible for slow adoption of big data.
As per the Cisco study, almost one in four respondent (23 per cent) stated that the lack of adequate IT staff (13 per cent) or big data staff expertise (10 per cent) are some of the other deterrents for the companies for adopting big data. Over half the respondents expect big data strategies to increase their IT budgets in 2013.
The study concludes that while most companies are collecting, storing and analysing data, many are struggling with both the business and IT challenges posed by big data. For example, while 60 per cent of survey respondents globally agreed that big data will help improve decision making and increase their competitiveness, only 28 per cent of those were currently generating strategic value from their data.
