Data Analytics by the Numbers

This month, Business Impact explored how leaps in technology are enabling countless data mining possibilities. The challenge facing companies is to figure out how to crunch the numbers so they can better serve their customers. One way of trying to solve this challenge is by tapping software, such as “business intelligence” applications.

Source: Gartner

When IBM recently asked 3,000 chief information officers what they sought most, 83 percent said data-analysis technologies were a top priority.

As we saw in the first story this month, data analysis has taken off largely because the cost of storing information has become nearly negligible. “Enterprise disk” refers to large storage drives used in data centers.

Source: Credit Suisse and Gartner

A recent report (PDF) from the McKinsey Global Institute, citing figures from IDC, examined which sectors of the economy have stored the most data, in petabytes.