IDC has forecast global spending on big data and business analytics (BDA) solutions to reach $215.7 billion this year, an increase of 10.1% over 2020.
In an update to its Worldwide Big Data and Analytics Spending Guide, the research firm has tipped BDA spending to gain strength over the next five years as the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between the 2021-2025 period will be 12.8%, IDC said.
"As executives seek solutions to enable better, faster decisions, we're seeing relatively healthy BDA spending across all industries," explained Jessica Goepfert, program vice president of Customer Insights and Analysis at IDC.
“Leveraging data for insights into everything from internal business operations to the customer journey is top of mind and of strategic importance.”
As an example, IDC cites businesses in the professional services industry that are utilising big data and analytics to support their 360-degree customer and client management efforts, as well as project management initiatives.
“Banks are using BDA solutions to improve customer onboarding while simultaneously automating business operations and detecting and preventing fraud,” Goepfert continued.
In fact, IDC says that banking, along with discrete manufacturing and professional services, are currently making the largest investments in big data. Together, these three industries look set to account for a third of all BDA spending in 2021.
The next three - process manufacturing, telecommunications and government – will deliver almost $47 billion in spending this year.
According to the report update, telecommunications will see the fastest growth in BDA spending over the forecast period, while all but one of the 19 covered industries are expected to see double digit growth.
“Even slower moving industries like construction have started to fuel investments in extended supply chain planning and interconnected and collaborative workspaces," Goepfert added.
In 2021, half of all BDA spending will go toward services, with IT services accounting for more than $85 billion of the total and business services making up the remainder.
Second will be software with $82 billion, with half of that total predicted to go to three types of applications – End-User Query, Reporting, and Analysis Tools, Relational Data Warehouses and Nonrelational Analytic Data Stores. The segment will be the fastest growing in terms of BDA spending, IDC says.
"The next phase of digital resiliency will spur increased investment in services to address both lingering and new challenges related to enterprise intelligence initiatives," commented Jennifer Hamel, research manager, Analytics and Intelligent Automation Services at IDC.
The US is the largest market with over $110 billion in BDA spending predicted this year, the research firm added, followed by Japan and China who will reach $12.4 billion and $11.9 billion, respectively. The UK is the only other country tipped to surpass $10 billion.
