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Director’s View

Welcome to our first E-zine of 2016. It certainly promises to be an eventful year, both at a local level with the challenges of politics & currency at play, and at a global level with the uncertainty of the world economy & oil price ahead.

With this in mind, we decided to rather focus on something more interesting and relevant to clients. The Internet of Things (IoT) and my favourite topic, Big Data!


Big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) are two rapidly growing technological forces that often work together to collect data.


The promise of big data lies within the ability of an organisation to use a connected device to compile data both internally and externally. The cost of doing big data analytics is predicted to go down this year, making it more feasible for organisations to collect marketplace or operations data.


A look into IoT

A fascinating study by Tech Pro Research in the USA revealed that 56% of companies are either using IoT to collect data or are planning to start within the next 12 months.

The survey was originally conducted in 2015 to find out how companies are using Big Data and IoT. It was repeated early in 2016 to see what has changed. Topics covered in these studies included:


  • IoT collection of marketplace data

  • IoT collection of operations data

  • IoT budgets and employee staffing numbers

  • Data security

  • Benefits and drawback of IoT data collection

In addition the 2016 survey looked at the progress and pitfalls companies have experienced by using IoT to collect data over the period since the initial survey was conducted.


Who is using Big Data?

The first objective was to assess where Big Data is used by assessing where implementations have been conducted. The survey found that 29% have deployed a Big Data solution, while another 61% have not. These figures remained virtually unchanged.





Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research


Company size matters, wih larger organisations much more likely to have undergone a Big Data implementation than smaller ones. In fact, companies with more than 1,000 employees have implemented big data nearly half more often than businesses with a smaller staff compliment. Only about one-fifth of smaller companies have put Big Data into place, with three quarters having no Big Data solution at all.




Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research


There were also regional differences in implementing Big Data. According to the study organisations in the Asia-Pacific region ranked the highest, 19% higher than second placed Europe. Big Data implementation in Central and South America is rare.





Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research


Who is using IoT ?

Since Big Data goes hand-in-hand with IoT, Tech Pro Research also analysed who is using IoT to collect marketplace or operations data with 21% of organisations reportedly using IoT and another 35% considering starting soon.




Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research


As far as company size, large organisations with more than 1,000 employees are significantly more likely to have either implemented or are planning to implement some kind of IoT system to collect data. Only 33% of these indicated that they have no current or planned IoT system implementations, while smaller organisations without plans to implement IoT systems range between 46% and 59%.




Image: Teena Maddox/Tech Pro Research


Thank you for your continued support of First Technology in Cape Town. I look forward to seeing you at one of our many client events we have planned for 2016!

Warm Regards


Johan de Villiers Managing Director

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