The report also claims there’s a potential to squeeze out an additional $2.6 trillion in revenue if more companies made the switch to real-time.
According to a new report from KX and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), 80% of the companies surveyed saw revenue increases that could be directly related to their investment in real-time data analytics. Is this a valid signal to companies who have shied away from the technological and cultural commitment that real-time requires?
In The Speed to Business Value report, announced at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit 2022, KX and the CEBR surveyed 1,200 companies in manufacturing, automotive, finance, and insurance from six countries—U.S., UK, France, Germany, Singapore, and Australia.
Aside from the headline finding—that 80% of the surveyed companies found a direct link from real-time to revenue—the report also claims there’s a potential to squeeze out an additional $2.6 trillion in revenue across the regions/sectors surveyed if more companies made the switch as well.
And perhaps just as importantly, the report also slightly redefines what most companies consider “real-time.” A quarter of the respondents define it as anything less than a millisecond.
Kathy Schneider, the Chief Marketing Officer at KX, said in a statement: “These results demonstrate the tangible impact of real-time data analytics on U.S. business performance and competitiveness; however, whether current data management and analytics architectures are capable of meeting this moment is another story. To truly thrive in the new data frontier, business leaders across every sector must be able to utilize real-time data within the context of historical data to make faster, better-informed business decisions. Anything less is no longer enough, and you risk being left behind.”
See also: Real-Time Data Streaming Delivers, and the Data Finally Shows It
The surveyed companies reported seeing the biggest revenue improvements in four key categories:
More efficient processes
The manufacturing, finance, and telecom respondents found the most improvements in developing and launching new applications, products, or services. Manufacturing often led the way on that front, with 73% of U.S. and 70% of Australian manufacturers reporting streamlined deployment processes.
Improved customer experience
A whopping 98% of respondents in every industry and region reported improvements on this front, turning real-time data into faster service delivery, increased sales, better product quality, and reduced customer experience costs.
Reduced non-workforce costs
According to the report, U.S.-based companies could save $187 billion—or $321 billion globally—if they invested in real-time data and analytics, with 60% of current respondents claiming they’ve seen major gains.
Detecting anomalous activities
All industries reported positive impacts on their operations and bottom lines after using real-time data for improved cybersecurity posture, supply chain aberrations, and more. Manufacturers and telecom companies lead the way in this category, seeing a reduction in overall anomalies thanks to new processes or tooling investments they’d made based on insights directly from real-time data.
Owen Good, Head of Economic Advisory at CEBR, said: “Our research sets out both the scale and breadth of the economic benefits supported by real-time data. Based on a survey of over 1,200 business decision-makers across six countries and four industries, we estimated significant firm-level and macroeconomic benefits associated with both the current and potential utilization of the technologies.
“Notably, we estimate that firm-level gains from using real-time data — driven by productivity gains from more efficient processing and managing of data — resulted in an uplift of $7.4 billion in gross value added across all six countries, with a further potential increase of $3.6 billion if the benefits of real-time data were fully exploited.”
With all this evidence, what are many companies still on the fence about real-time data and analytics? Based on conversations with the RTInsights community and industry contributors, we’ve found that many are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of potential technologies, platforms, services, and providers. Decision fatigue is real, and many opt to wait out the real-time transition until it’s deemed absolutely necessary.
Other companies aren’t ready on a cultural level to handle what real-time data means to how they think, learn, and operate. IT staff and developers need to build applications and infrastructure differently, and anyone responsible for querying data and building reports needs to get out of a batch/historical analysis mindset and start generating insights based on what’s happening right now on an operational level.
And sometimes, despite all the evidence to the contrary, fear over the clashes around technology and culture outweighs the fear of missing out on more revenue—even if it’s a slide of a whopping $2.6 trillion pie.
Read more: The RTInsights Guide to Streaming Analytics
