Developing countries organizations’ readiness for Big Data analytics

Billy Mathias Kalema,Motau Mokgadi

doi:10.21511/ppm.15(1-1).2017.13

Billy Mathias Kalema, Motau Mokgadi

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.15(1-1).2017.13

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Abstract

Regardless of the nature, size, or business sector, organizations are now collecting burgeoning various volumes of data in different formats. As much as voluminous data are necessary for organizations to draw good insights needed for making informed decisions, traditional architectures and existing infrastructures are limited in delivering fast analytical processing needed for these Big Data. For success organizations need to apply technologies and methods that could empower them to cost effectively analyze these Big Data. However, many organizations in developing countries are constrained with limited access to technology, finances, infrastructure and skilled manpower. Yet, for productive use of these technologies and methods needed for Big Data analytics, both the organizations and their workforce need to be prepared. The major objective for this study was to investigate developing countries organizations’ readiness for Big Data analytics. Data for the study were collected from a public sector in South Africa and analyzed quantitatively. Results indicated that scalability, ICT infrastructure, top management support, organization size, financial resources, culture, employees’ e-skills, organization’s customers’ and vendors are significant factors for organizations’ readiness for Big Data analytics. Likewise strategies, security and competitive pressure were found not to be significant. This study contributes to the scanty literature of Big Data analytics by providing empirical evidence of the factors that need attention when organizations are preparing for Big Data analytics.

Highlights

In today’s competitive business environment, organizations are striving to move past the limits of spreadsheets and ineffective business intelligence reporting so as to achieve a wider and more personalized experience with data
As much as voluminous data are necessary for organizations to draw good insights needed for making informed decisions, traditional architectures and existing infrastructures are limited in delivering fast analytical processing needed for these Big Data
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, top management support, organization size, financial resources, culture, employees’ e-skills, organization’s customers’ and vendors are significant factors for organizations’ readiness for Big Data analytics

Summary

Introduction

In today’s competitive business environment, organizations are striving to move past the limits of spreadsheets and ineffective business intelligence reporting so as to achieve a wider and more personalized experience with data. We have seen organization growing rapidly both internally and externally, joining the data economy. This growth is foretelling an industrial revolution that is driven by highly accurate, real-time analysis, alerts actions, where data are processed instantly and transmitted leaving only the models and algorithms to be stored. Motau Mokgadi, Department of Informatics, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa. Notwithstanding the data volumes, good analysis of Big Data could help an organization to gain insights and make better decisions, achieving a competitive edge on the global market (Forbes Insights, 2015)

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