The movement toward setting data in motion with real-time streaming is experiencing a groundswell. According to a new survey data, 97% of firms are tapping into real-time data streaming, making it one of the most vital tech for thriving in today’s digital-first landscape.
For the inaugural State of Data in Motion report, Confluent, Inc. surveyed 1,950 IT and engineering leaders in 6 countries. The findings emphasized how data in motion can underpin businesses that excel at serving, retaining, and attracting customers, now and into the future.
Why are real-time data streams important?
“Real-time data streams are core to how we serve clients and run our business,” said Yaël Gomez, VP, Global IT, Integration and Intelligent Automation, Walgreens Boots Alliance.
“With quality data in motion, we can manage client engagement, ensure vaccine and testing accessibility for patients, and enable a differentiated online retail proposition. An organization-wide IT modernization effort has led to an increasingly seamless omnichannel experience.”
The report reflects the growing data streaming market. It shows how real-time data influences everything from how employees get work done to how firms engage clients and deliver goods. Harnessing this powerful force is difficult for many firms. Data becomes harder to wrangle as it grows in volume and the variety of places it’s pulled from and stored.
“Data has emerged as one of the most important assets needed for organisational success,” commented Erica Schultz, President of Field Operations, Confluent.
“Modernizing data infrastructure with real-time data streams — what we call “data in motion” — enables continuous movement and processing of data for better workflows, more automation, real-time analytics, and differentiated digital customer experiences. This technology is crucial for organizations to compete and win in the digital-first world.”
This is the first industry report that focuses on tech leaders’ experience with data in motion, exploring topics like the benefits they experience, the roadblocks they face with widespread adoption, and the role they believe real-time data streaming will play in their success.
What were the key findings of the research?
These were the key findings of the Data in Motion Report;
Data in motion boosts customer engagement and the bottom line
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- Most leaders have access to some degree of real-time data streams (97%), but those with widespread access (66%) see higher revenues.
- 63% of those with widespread access to real-time data saw an annual revenue growth of 10% or more between 2020 and year-end 2021, despite the global pandemic.
- 8 in 10 IT leaders say that real-time data streams are very, or extremely, important when it comes to building rich customer experiences.
Real-time data streaming is essential, but challenging without tech
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- 60% say difficulties integrating multiple data sources are the biggest hurdle to accessing more real-time data, nearly twice as many as those who cited a lack of budget.
- 76% of IT leaders said the timely integration of real-time data from different applications is important for critical processes within their organization. But nearly half (40%) reported difficulty integrating data in a timely way.
- 68% say it’s challenging to even find the data they need to build real-time applications.
Success in the cloud demands secure data streaming between clouds
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- Only 39% of respondents say they’re “completely prepared” to operate in a hybrid cloud environment, where some of their data is in the cloud and some still on premises.
- While the multi-cloud is common, 32% of IT leaders struggle to synchronize data between storage environments effectively.
- Of companies operating on premises, 69% report security concerns like ensuring data protection, losing control of data security, and/or threats of being hacked as their top reasons for hesitating to move to the cloud.
Download the full Data in Motion report here.
