15 Big Data Facts Every IT Professional Should Know

Big data continues to be a prominent player in the tech world, evolving at a rapid pace. It offers promising career growth within major tech industries as businesses realize the crucial role it will play in future decision-making processes. However, the market faces a noticeable skill deficit in this area. Hence, IT professionals must stay updated with big data trends and statistics!

1. The Enormity of Data

IBM estimates a daily data generation of an astounding 2.5 quintillion bytes!

2. Distinctions in Data Types

A study by Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) shows that 51% of data is structured, 27% is unstructured, with the remaining 21% being semi-structured.

3. Big Data’s Influence on the Job Market

In a prediction by Gartner in 2015, it was forecasted that around 4.4 million global IT jobs would be created to support big data, with 1.9 million of those jobs being in the US.

4. Skill Shortage in the Big Data Field

In 2018, the McKinsey Global Institute indicated a worrying talent shortage in the US, ranging from 140,000 to 190,000 people. The country may face a deficit in managers and analysts who can effectively make decisions using big data, reaching about 1.5 million.

5. Restructuring Job Roles for Big Data

According to TEK Systems, about 81% of IT leaders and 77% of IT professionals believe their organizations lack the necessary skills to fully utilize their data assets.

6. Addressing Fragmentation in Data Systems

TEK Systems reports that 66% of IT leaders and 53% of IT professionals hold the view that to efficiently manage their data, organizations must establish new platforms, replacing currently fragmented systems.

7. Extracting Business Value From Big Data

TCS identified three major challenges related to big data: encouraging cross-organizational information sharing, managing the three V’s of big data (volume, velocity, and variety), and figuring out the optimal ways to use data in different conditions.

8. Emphasizing Data Quality

TEK Systems surveys indicate that around 57% of IT leaders and 52% of IT professionals question data ownership consistency, suggesting data quality is often overlooked. Upholding the accuracy and quality of data will gain increasing importance in the expanding big data universe.

9. Big Data as A Competitive Edge

According to CompTIA, nearly eight out of ten data executives believed that effective enterprise data management would contribute to a stronger business stance.

10. The Requirement for Enhancing Data Management

CompTIA’s reports also suggest that less than 20% of businesses believe they have solid stability in managing and utilizing their data.

11. Prime Catalysts for Big Data Businesses

EMA and 9sight Consulting identified the top three big data business catalysts to be accelerating operational or analytical workloads, gaining a competitive advantage via flexible business solution data, and satisfying business demands for advanced analytics.

12. The Rise in Big Data Implementations

A study by EMA and 9sight Consulting discovered that big data implementations in production rose from 27% in 2012 to 34.3% in 2013.

13. Utilization of Big Data Tools

A survey by Giga Spaces revealed that about 80% of IT professionals are either utilizing or planning to use big data tools to cope with the large amounts of data in their organizations.

14. Big Data Investment

TCS documented that nearly 15% of the surveyed companies invested at least $100 million each in big data in 2012, and 7% invested a minimum of $500 million.

15. High Expenditure Industries in Big Data

TCS states that travel-related, high tech, and banking sectors are the most significant spenders, while life sciences, retail, and energy sectors spent the least on big data.

source: Webopedia

This article was updated in 2025 to reflect current trends and insights.