The UK’s leading tech companies are adopting ‘pervasive intelligence’ strategies to unlock additional benefits from their data and secure increased financial rewards, according to new research from 451 Group and Digital Realty, a leading provider of data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions.
Businesses in the UK currently miss out on £52 billion each year because of under-investment and weaknesses in data infrastructure, strategy and analytics skills. According to the research, which was conducted by 451 Group on behalf of Digital Realty, leading tech companies are now investing to close that gap through big data technologies. These will ultimately help them achieve ‘pervasive intelligence’, a point where data processing and analytics is built into every one of the business’s departments, processes and technologies, so data and analytics drive not just business decisions but also the core operations of the business itself.
Matt Aslett, Research Vice President Data, AI and Analytics at 451 Group, explains, “Pervasive intelligence describes the increased use of data and analytics to drive not just business decisions, but also the core operational applications of the business itself. It is the infusion of human and artificial intelligence into applications, services, workflows, systems, devices and computing systems infrastructure – on the cloud, in the data centre and at the edge – to deliver and democratise data-driven decision-making.”
By investing now in the smart technologies that will pervade their businesses and deliver previously unattainable levels of performance and efficiency, UK businesses will start to close the gap on the £52 billion annual unrealised value from their data.
In the UK, 46% of high-bandwidth companies have already adopted big data technologies, and those that haven’t already, soon will. 21% have evaluated the technology and 27% plan to adopt new big data initiatives in the coming years. If they continue to invest and the UK’s wider business community follows their lead, the UK’s data economy could be worth £101.6 billion by 2025.
”Pervasive intelligence may seem tough to achieve for some businesses,” says Rob Coupland, Managing Director EMEA, Digital Realty. “But the first steps can be as simple as investing in new, smart technologies and making sure every area of operation has simple, instant access to those technologies.
“We are seeing that, for many more companies, data has become, or is becoming, the ultimate asset, and new approaches and infrastructure are needed to realise its value. Pervasive intelligence is best practice data handling and it’s something that any business can benefit from.”
