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Most ANZ organisations unprepared for ‘Big Data’

Most ANZ organisations unprepared for ‘Big Data’

Lack of analytics capabilities a prime concern to 28 percent of IT professionals, reports ISACA.

Big Data is an increasing area of focus, but just 22 percent of New Zealand and Australian IT professionals surveyed in ISACA’s 2013 IT Risk/Reward Barometer are confident their enterprise has a policy regarding how it manages Big Data.

Instead, almost two-thirds (61 per cent) of respondents say their company has no policy around Big Data – and a further 17 per cent of Australasian IT professionals are unsure.

Moreover, just 5 per cent of IT professionals say their enterprise is very prepared to ensure effective governance and privacy of Big Data.

The majority, 45 per cent, believes their organisation is “adequately prepared” and one-quarter (25 per cent) say they are “not prepared at all”.

Yet, as ISACA notes, information is currently and enterprises must not only protect and manage it, but also use it to drive business value.

ISACA, the global association of IT security, assurance, governance and risk professionals, says it interviewed over 2000 IT professionals for the report.

ISACA defines Big Data as the exponentially growing bytes of information that are created and collected digitally, often with datasets so large they require specialist software tools to capture, store, manage and analyse the data.

While there has been an explosion in the data that organisations collect, the processes to manage, store and ensure the security of such information haven’t been as quick to keep up.

Jo Stewart-Rattray, ISACA

When asked what the biggest challenge their enterprise is facing with regards to Big Data, the top reason was a lack of analytics capabilities or skills (28 percent). The management and storage of large volumes of data came second, highlighted by 22 percent of respondents. A smaller number (14 percent) cited compliance requirements as a key limitation.

Related: Big data demystified

“While there has been an explosion in the data that organisations collect, the processes to manage, store and ensure the security of such information haven’t been as quick to keep up,” says Jo Stewart-Rattray, ISACA international director.

“Australasian IT professionals need to ask the tough questions to make certain their enterprises are taking the necessary measures to ensure that governance issues and privacy related concerns are properly addressed, and their systems are as secure as possible.”

Related: Data scientist: Most 'in demand' job of the century?

ISACA says its new guide COBIT 5: Enabling Information aims to help enterprises on three key aspects of Big Data: fraud detection, IT predictive analytics and marketing situational awareness.

“When governance structures and processes are in place, enterprises are much more equipped to handle these challenges,” says Steven De Haes, of the group’s publication team. He says the group aims to help companies simplify information governance so that they can both handle the information coming from a vast number of channels and derive value from it.

Follow Divina Paredes on Twitter: @divinap

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Tags ISACAData managementdata scientistsBog DataThomas Davenport

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