2019 Survey – Big Data & AI are Center Stage for Competitive Advantage: NewVantage Partners Big Data and AI Executive Survey 2019

NVP (NewVantage Partners), a strategic consulting company focused on data-driven business innovation, has published its 2019 survey on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. The 2019 survey main theme was to understand how Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are accelerating the business transformation. They first started to survey this topic in 2012 when they sought to understand the potential impact of Big Data and its implications on businesses. Prof. Thomas Davenport and Randy Bean wrote the foreword to the current survey. Prof. Davenport is a Professor in Management and Information Technology at Babson College, and one of the world-renowned thought-leaders and gurus in the areas of management practices, analytics, and its impact on competitive advantage on organizations. Mr. Randy Bean is the Founder and CEO of NewVantage Partners – a recognized thought-leader in the areas of Big Data, AI, and business innovation. As explained in the foreword, the 2019 edition of the survey results is a reason for celebration. 65 Fortune1000, as well as other leading organizations, are represented in the 2019 survey- with a high level of C-executives participation. The main findings of the survey, which is a worthwhile read for anyone dealing with Big Data and AI, are the following:

• 92% of the respondents are increasing the pace of investments in Big Data and AI.
• 62% have already seen measurable results from their investments in Big Data and AI (slightly less than in 2018, but still remarkable).
• 48% of organizations say they compete on data and analytics. When Prof. Davenport first introduced the concept of competing on analytics in his famous 2007 book, perhaps 5% of large organizations would have said this.
• 31% have a data-driven organization, and 28% have a data culture.
• 75% fear disruption from new entrants.
• 88% feel a greater urgency to invest in Big Data and AI.
• 92% are driven by positive objectives – transformation, agility, or competition – and only 5% are driven by cost reduction.
• All respondents agree that data privacy and cybersecurity are important priorities and 56% see “data ethics” as an important topic, probably a concept anyone would have mentioned a decade ago.
• 77% say that “business adoption” continues to represent a challenge for their organizations.

NewVantage Partners full survey Looking at the finding of this interesting survey, you may conclude that Big Data and AI are on their way to significantly impact the business environment, and every organization should seek how to implement these technologies for their benefit. Raz Heiferman and Prof. Yesha Sivan have introduced the concept of “Data is the Oil of the Digital Era” in chapter 7 of their e-book “Doing Digital” emphasizing the importance of managing the data as a strategic asset that can be leveraged for improving the competitive advantage, and monetized to create new revenue streams. Data and Artificial Intelligence, and specifically Machine Learning, have become a must for most organizations that want to thrive in the digital era. “Doing Digital” e-book (Hebrew) on the e-Vrit application