BUSINESS ASSURANCE

VIEWPOINT REPORTAre you able to leverage big data to boost
your productivity and value creation?
APRIL 2016

SAFER, SMARTER, GREENER

VIEWPOINT REPORT

2

CONTENTS
FOREWORD

CURRENT SCENARIO

FUTURE OUTLOOKOUR FINAL THOUGHTSINTRODUCTION07

Big data, optimism allaround

20

Big data impacts inthe mid-term

29

METHODOLOGYAND SAMPLE

08

Approach and usage

21

Preparing for the
future15

Key initiatives
undertaken

22

Opportunities frombig data management

16

Main benefits

17

Main obstacles

18

Data governance,
confidence is key

NOTES TO THE
READER

Profiling the leaders

29 Leaders’ approach to
big data

VIEWPOINT REPORT3

FOREWORDINTRODUCTION

Big data are all those data sets whose
sizes go well beyond the ability tocapture, manage and process with
commonly used software tools.

DNV GL - Business Assurance, supported by theinternational research institute GFK Eurisko, hasinvestigated how companies in different sectors in
Europe, North America, South America and Asia
deal with big data.

Increased connectivity, new capabilities for
capturing, storing, processing, presenting data,
and transmission of large volumes of varied data
at high velocity have developed significantly in thepast few years, resulting in the potential availabilityof extensive data sets to most companies.

The survey was conducted in February 2016 andinvestigated how DNV GL - Business Assurance
customers approach big data, the initiatives they
implement and the opportunities they are seizing.

This new reality has changed the playing field of
many traditional industries and has revealed newopportunities. There is a strong trend across allindustries and sectors to use data analytics for
managing performance and risk. This is the core of
the big data shift; the ability to use data to obtainactionable knowledge, insights and predictions.
The global certification leader DNV GL – Business
Assurance has tried to investigate the maturity ofthis situation.

The survey of 1,189 professionals from theprimary, secondary and tertiary sectors1 highlightsthat big data is seen as a reason for optimism
from a business point of view. It represents anopportunity for a large part of the sample.
However, world companies have just embarked on
the journey to really exploiting big data. Although
the awareness of its importance is noteworthy andwidespread, the ability to leverage big data toboost productivity and value creation is still rare.
Most companies are still dealing with preliminary,enabling initiatives, delayed by the lack ofcomprehensive strategies and technical skills.
The certainty is that big data offers a world ofopportunities no one wants to miss out on. Thereis a lot of fermentation going on and – with mostcompanies believing that big data will be playing
a key role in the mid-term and preparing for this– we are sure that data science will be one of the
key occupational fields in the future. Better data
management will create a myriad of efficiency
improvements and market opportunities. They are
there for the taking.
In this context, a group of companies (hereinafter“leaders”) is one step ahead in managing big
data; they are incorporating their use into its
organizations and reaping significant benefits.2

1
2

Primary: i.e. agriculture; secondary: i.e. manufacturing; tertiary: i.e. services, transportation.
The leaders’ characteristics are reported in the text boxes throughout the report and summarized in the final section Profiling the leaders.

VIEWPOINT REPORT

4

METHODOLOGY ANDSURVEY SAMPLE■■■■

The survey was conducted in February 2016.
It involved 1,189 professionals who work at
companies in the primary, secondary andtertiary sectors across different industries in
Europe, North America, Central and SouthAmerica and Asia.

■■

The sample includes 82 companies defined
as leaders. The classification of a company inthe leaders category is based on it meetinga set of pre-requisites specifically defined by
DNV GL.

■■The questionnaire was administered using the
CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing)
methodology.

The sample consists of DNV GL’s customers
and is not statistically representative ofcompanies worldwide.

BIG DATAATTRIBUTES OF
COMPANIES IN
THE LEADERS
GROUP

■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■

Is able to evaluate big data as opportunity or threat.
Leverages on big data to boost productivity.
Has a clear strategy on big data.
Has taken action to deal with big data.3
Is able to evaluate benefits achieved from leveraging big data.
Is preparing for a big data future.
Is going to invest the same or more than today in big data in thenext 2-3 years.

Europe

32%

Asia

53%

North America

7%

Central and South America

6%

Others2%

Figure 1: Companies in the sample.
Geographic breakdown3
At least one of the following initiatives: to implement/integrate new technologies and methods; to build or train new competencies; itmake changes to culture and organization; to offer new delivery models; to create new business models and go-to market strategies; toenhance information management; to take on new roles in the digital space; other.

VIEWPOINT REPORT

5

INDUSTRYCOMPANY SIZEPRIMARY<50

2,7%

SECONDARY

55,0%

food

5,0%

chemicals

4,3%

plastic

3,5%

metalsmachineryelectrical

13,0%

construction
transport
health

20,0%
18,3%

1000 +

17,4%
6,1%

5,2%
16,2%

TERTIARY

wholesale and retail trade13,5%

250-999

Missing

7,8%other secondary
electricity, gas and water…

50-99
100-249

24,7%

34,9%
2,6%
6,6%
3,2%
11,3%
3,3%

other tertiary

7,9%Missing

7,4%

Figure 2: Companies in the sample. Sectors and size (number of employees)

NOTES TOTHE READER■■

In the graphs contained herein, red circles
highlight data significantly below average.
Green circles highlight data significantly
above average.

■■

In the graphs, the symbol * indicates thatthe sample size is small.

■■

Graphics in figures 7, 8, 9, 18 and 19
refer to questions with multiple answers.

All other graphs refer to single answer
questions, with answers adding up to
100%.
■■

The graphs report the scores obtained by
the total of respondents, by respondents
in different regions, by large companies
employing more than 1,000 people andby leaders.

■■

For the reader’s convenience, the word
average has been used throughout the
text to indicate the scores obtained by all
respondents.

VIEWPOINT REPORT

6

CURRENT SCENARIOBIG DATA,OPTIMISM ALL AROUND
Everybody is talking about big data and analytics
these days. They are seen as a reason for optimism
from a business point of view. For sure, companies
around the world do not consider this as a threat(5%); on the contrary, it represents an opportunity
for more than half of those surveyed (52%). The
percentage increases to 70% when it comes tocompanies employing more than 1,000 people.
Enthusiasm abounds about big data in every
region of the world, likely because it is expected to

EVERYBODY’S TALKING
ABOUT BIG DATA AND
ANALYTICS THESE DAYS:IS YOUR COMPANYCONSIDERING IT MORE
AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR
OR A THREAT TO YOUR
BUSINESS?

TOTAL
1,189alopportunity
threatdk/dacontribute significantly to improving performance.
A total of 45% recognize the direct importance ofbig data capabilities for their companies. Proportions are more than 10 percentage points higher
for companies located in North America (56%) andfor large companies (60%).

Big data clearly represents anopportunity for LEADERS (96%).

Europe

52,1%
4,5%
43,4%

Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

55,4%

49,3%

52,4%

53,8%

70,0%

96,3%

4,3%

4,9%

2,4%

3,1%

1,4%

3,7%

40,3%

45,8%

45,2%

43,1%

28,6%

0,0%

Figure 3: Big data, opportunityor threat?

VIEWPOINT REPORT

7

HOW IMPORTANT AREBIG DATA CAPABILITIES(COMPETENCES,TECHNOLOGY, METHODS,
ETC.) TO YOUR COMPANYTODAY?
Figure 4: Importance of big datacapabilities from a businessperspective

TOTAL
1,189alEurope44,9 %Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

50,5%

40,7%

56,1%

32,3%

60,4%

98,8%

% Top 2 Boxes
Very important + important

APPROACH AND
USAGE
Although the awareness of the importance ofbig data is noteworthy and widespread, only 1company in 4 is able to leverage big data to boost
productivity and value creation.
Large companies (44%) stand out with proportions
above average. So do, but at lower rates, North
Americans (32%) who have been working on big
data for a longer time and whose universities havebeen leading the way.

TO WHAT EXTENTDOES YOUR COMPANY
LEVERAGE BIG DATATO BOOST YOURPRODUCTIVITY AND
VALUE CREATION?
Figure 5: World companies
leveraging on big data to boost
productivity

LEADERS unanimously think that big
data capabilities are important totheir companies.

LEADERS leverage on big data toboost their productivity.

TOTAL
1,189alEurope26,8 %Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

27,2%

26,5%

31,7%

20,0%

43,5%

100,0%% Top 2 Boxes
Great + moderat extent

VIEWPOINT REPORT8

A clear strategy on big data is a reality for 1 in 4.
Large companies’ rates are understandably higher(40%), as they might have put big data on theagenda before others.
Though being the most advanced in terms of usage, North Americans record below average percentages for strategies (20%). That’s not surprising:the more you know, the more complex the issue
becomes. North American companies are moreaware of what having a strategy implies.

TO WHAT EXTENT DOES
YOUR COMPANY HAVE A
CLEAR STRATEGY ON BIGDATA?

LEADERS have a big data strategy.

TOTAL
1,189alEurope23,5 %Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America

Large
Companies

Leaders>1000 employees

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

23,9%

24,9%

19,5%

16,9%

39,6%

100,0%

Figure 6: World companies
adopting a strategy on big data

% Top 2 Boxes
Great + moderate extent

VIEWPOINT REPORT

9

VIEWPOINT REPORT

10

WHAT IS BIG DATA?
Big data is one of the main protagonists oftoday’s digitized global economy and its
definition is one of the most discussed topics
floating around in the business community.

insights from data, real-time monitoring
and forecasting of events, more fact-based
decisions and improved management of
performance.

IBM, the leading organization on big data
and analytics, defines big data as follows:“every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes ofdata (…). This data comes from everywhere:
sensors used to gather climate information,
posts to social media sites, digital picturesand videos, purchase transaction records andcell phone GPS signals, just to name a few.
This information is big data.”* The leading
North American software and analytics company SAS well explains another key element:“the importance of big data doesn’t revolvearound how much data you have, but what
you do with it.”**

The ability to store, aggregate, and combine
data and then use the results to perform
in-depth analyses is now widespread. Big
data has made possible various applications
across several industries, such as machinelearning, network optimization, semantic
search and many more. For example, one of
the major data-driven changes is the emergence of real-time location data, which has
created an entirely new set of location-based
services, from navigation to pricing property
and casualty insurance based on where andhow people drive their cars.

The term big data is nowadays increasingly used in all business sectors to describe
several operations, all of which are characterized by the availability of an amount of data
– too large to be processed via conventional
software systems and databases – and whose
analysis (through technologically advanced
tools and techniques) allows complex
comparisons and leads to insightful results.
The value of these analytics is anything but
theoretical; it opens the way to concreteinnovations, sometimes revolutions. Big data
promises business benefits in terms of timely

Big data has already had a considerable impact and changed the competitive landscapein many industries. Visionary leaders areworking to build their organizations’ big datacapabilities*** in the certainty that big data is
sweeping away consolidated, conventional
practices and replacing them with somethingnew.

*http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/what-is-big-data.html**http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/big-data/what-is-big-data.html***Manyika, J., Chui, M., Brown, B., Bughin, J., Dobbs, R., Roxburgh,C., & Byers, A. H. (2011). Big data: The next frontier for innovation,competition, and productivity.

VIEWPOINT REPORT11

VIEWPOINT REPORT12APPROACHING A BIGDATA STRATEGY
Big data could be just another item on yourstrategic agenda, but probably it is bigger.
When we see big data as one of the key elements in the larger context of digitalization,
the transformative powers of these topics
can be so fundamental that they most likely
deserve and will demand a very special focus
in most companies.
For most, there is a high degree of uncertainty as to how big data and digitalization
will impact their companies and industries,
their own modes of operation and businessmodels. In such situations it is often difficult
to craft and apply a traditional strategy with a
3-5 year horizon. The best advice may be tosee it as a learning journey, even if the returnon investment is more uncertain.
One approach, which may also satisfy theconservative forces in the company, is towork along three paths: this could be done
simultaneously, in parts or independently:
1. Leverage opportunities offered by big data
and digitalization to optimize the current
delivery mode and business model.
2. Leverage opportunities offered by big data
and digitalization to establish new delivery
modes and business models.
3. Identify how opportunities offered by big
data and digitalization may disrupt yourproduction/services and industry and set
out to actively take part in the disruption.
This journey can give you the freedom to try
things that are out of the box, while keeping
at heads with your competition.
All three paths may hold significant efficiency
and productivity gains that could help you establish key differentiators against the competition and totally new digital services.
You may set out to use your existing data ina better way: to optimize production/service
delivery, share insights into the customer
interface and perhaps even introduce benchmarking as a new service.
Or you may set out to transform your production/service through a whole new way ofdelivery (e.g. from analogue to digital) anduse big data analytics to give a whole newlevel of user experience combining data fromall your process, from your customers andany other open or commercially available
sources.
You may see some disruptive scenarios inyour industry that you want to get ahead ofand grasp the opportunity before anybody
else does. To do this, you may even need to
set up a whole new company outside of yourown organization to get the agility and freedom to build a new culture and new production/service to succeed.

VIEWPOINT REPORT

13

All three paths require you to build certain
big data capabilities internally or accessthem through sub-contractors, partners orinvestments/acquisitions.

knowledge into data streams. For this you willneed technical capabilities to handle data
governance, data processing and storage,
data science/modelling, etc.

To analyze and act on the impacts of big data
and digitalization on your industries, youneed a strong element of domain knowledge
which you should have or build inside yourown organization, but you will also need astrong element of digital and business model
innovation competence that you may nothave readily available inside your organization.

Finally, you may expect any significant
change to be limited by internal and external barriers which consequently have to beaddressed in your strategy. Internal barriers
will to a large part be cultural and typicallybe resistance to: automation of knowledge
work, use data as a basis for decisions, learning to treat data as an asset, use analytics tocreate new value propositions, etc. External
obstacles may be found in existing customers
resisting change in various ways or barriers toreach new customers or customer networks,
legislative or stakeholder limitations, etc.

If you see that you will need to change yourcurrent operation mode (e.g. from analogue
to digital), you will need to build or buy
services to embed your domain and process

VIEWPOINT REPORT

14

KEY INITIATIVESUNDERTAKEN

10% offered new delivery models and 8% took on
new roles in the digital space.
Both Europeans (31%) and North Americans (33%)
focussed on new technologies, but the latter
invested in people too, especially on changes toculture and organization (24%) and on training andbuilding new competencies (21%).

Half of the companies interviewed implemented
at least one initiative related to big data, with rates
slightly higher in North America and Europe (both55%). Size is also a factor: large companies record
well above average rates (63%).

Large companies are the most active, with above
average rates for all categories of initiatives. The
bigger they are, the more focused they are on this
topic.

Exploiting big data is a journey upon which mostcompanies have embarked: it begins with governance and technology and moves on to more sophisticated actions. You first have to be able to act
on management and governance to use data in an
effective way. The curve of initiatives implemented
mirrors this journey.
Most of the initiatives undertaken are enabling
actions and relate to aspects such as the improvement of information management (28%) and theimplementation of new technologies and methods(25%).

New technologies and methods play a keyrole for LEADERS; they implement related
initiatives at 3 times the average rate(81%) but they do not limit themselves toenabling actions.

The proportion implementing actions with moresignificant impact on everyday activity is smaller.
16% made changes to culture and their organizations, and 15% even assumed a different businessmodel or developed new competencies.

WHICH OF THE
FOLLOWING ACTIONSREGARDING BIG DATA HAS
YOUR COMPANY TAKEN?
(multiple responses)
Figure 7: Initiatives undertaken

They resort to changes to culture andorganization (56%), training (50%) andoffer new delivery models (43%) in
proportions well above average.

TOTAL
1,189al49,1%

AT LEAST ONE

Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

55,2%

47,3%

54,8%

53,9%

63,3%

100,0%

Large
Companies

Leaders

27,6%

28,5%

25,4%

29,3%

32,3%

38,2%

62,2%

24,8%

30,7%

20,2%

32,9%

21,5%

37,2%

80,5%

enhance information management
implement/integrate new technologies andmethods

Europemake changes to culture and organization

16,0%

19,8%

11,2%

24,4%

27,7%

21,7%

56,1%

create new business models and go-to market
strategies

15,4%

12,2%

17,7%

14,6%

13,8%

21,7%

45,1%

build or train new competencies

14,6%

13,3%

14,0%

20,7%

15,4%

22,7%

50,0%

offer new delivery models

9,8%

9,5%

9,3%

11,0%

12,3%

15,0%

42,7%

to take on new roles in the digital space

7,6%

6,8%

7,0%

7,3%

10,8%

13,0%

26,8%

other

3,1%

2,4%

3,3%

3,7%

6,2%

4,3%

6,1%

34,2%

37,9%

22,0%

29,2%

16,4%

0,0%

no actions undertaken so far

34,5%

VIEWPOINT REPORT

15

MAIN BENEFITS

The trend is similar in all geographical regions andfor large companies; benefits are just more intense
for the latter group.

There is no doubt that all businesses that leveraged big data concretely benefited. Only 2% did
not profit.
Companies reaped benefits especially in terms ofimprovement of their operations. A total of 23%
increased efficiency, 16% improved business decision making and 11% achieved financial savings.
For 7% big data even transformed their businessmodel.

LEADERS benefit more than others. Rates arehigher for all advantages, but they profit morethan average especially in terms of efficiency(60%) and of transformation of their businessmodel (32%; more than 4 times the average). They
also obtained significant market related benefits:
improved customer experience (57%) and theirinnovation process/time to market (49%, morethan 4 times the average).

Benefits were not limited to internal aspects: 16%
also improved customer experience and 9% improved relations with other stakeholders.

WHAT BENEFITS DID YOUR
COMPANY ACHIEVE FROMLEVERAGING BIG DATA?
(multiple responses)
Figure 8: Benefits obtained frombig data related initiatives

TOTAL
1,189alEurope43,0%

AT LEAST ONE

Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

45,4%

42,0%

36,6%

41,5%

54,1%

98,8%

21,5%

23,4%

18,3%

23,1%

27,5%

59,8%

Improved business decision making

16,3%

17,9%

14,5%

17,1%

16,9%

26,6%

54,9%

Improved customer experience and engagement

15,6%

14,9%

15,9%

18,3%

10,8%

19,8%

57,3%

Achieved financial savings

11,4%

10,3%

13,5%

8,5%

7,7%

17,9%

32,9%

Improved innovation process/time to market

11,3%

11,1%

12,4%

8,5%

7,7%

17,9%

48,8%

Improved compliance with laws and regulations

11,0%

10,3%

10,7%

12,2%

15,4%

15,0%

30,5%

Improved relations with other stakeholders

9,3%

8,7%

8,9%

8,5%

10,8%

13,5%

34,1%

Improved supply chain security

9,0%

9,0%

9,4%

3,7%

10,8%

14,5%

30,5%

Achieved a transformation of the business model

6,9%

4,9%

8,9%

3,7%

6,2%

9,7%

31,7%

Other benefits

3,2%

4,9%

2,4%

1,2%

4,6%

3,9%

4,9%

undertake action but NO BENEFITS ACHIEVED

2,2%

2,4%

1,3%

7,3%

0,0%

2,4%

1,2%

Increased efficiency

22,6%

VIEWPOINT REPORT

16

MAIN OBSTACLES

The ranking of barriers change slightly for large
companies; they also feel hindered especially by
the lack of a strategy (29%) but also by competing
priorities (28%) and by security concerns (21%). As
it is still early, it is common practice for companies
to devote resources to clearer business cases andto feel slowed down by tangible issues such as
security.

Factors preventing companies from taking moreadvantage of big data mainly relate either to thelack of an overall strategy or of technical skills(both accounting for 24%). Acquiring a specificvision and specific skills are emerging needs; competing priorities are a close second (20%).
North Americans report above average difficulties
with resources distracted by other issues (40%)
and again highlight difficulties with a comprehensive big data strategy (31%), while technicalskills are less of a problem to them (18%). Security
concerns - average score of 17% - represent a barrier mainly in Asia (23%), while the lack of strong
business cases is particularly felt in Europe (12%).

Strategy (20%) and management
understanding (13%) are not a problem
for LEADERS. Similarly to large
companies, they are prevented in taking
advantage of big data by competing
priorities (40%) and security concerns(35%).

More than 1 in 10, irrespectively of geography, isaware of the importance of organizational agility
to profit from big data.

WHAT BARRIERS AREIMPEDING YOUR COMPANYIN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF
BIG DATA?
(multiple responses)
Figure 9: Barriers to progress in
big data management

TOTAL
1,189alLack of an overall strategy

24,4%EuropeAsia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

24,7%

22,3%

30,5%

30,8%

29,0%

19,5%

Insufficient technical skills

23,5%

21,7%

25,9%

18,3%

24,6%

23,2%

22,0%

Too many competing priorities

19,8%

30,2%

11,5%

40,2%

12,3%

28,5%

40,2%

Lack of management understanding

19,7%

21,2%

17,4%

23,2%

21,5%

18,4%

13,4%

Security concerns

17,4%

13,0%

22,6%

11,0%

7,7%

21,7%

35,4%

Lack of organizational agility

12,2%

11,7%

12,5%

11,0%

12,3%

14,5%

15,9%

Lack of collaborative, sharing culture

12,0%

12,2%

11,9%

9,8%

18,5%

14,0%

13,4%

Lack of employees incentives

10,3%

9,2%

11,7%

6,1%

9,2%

8,2%

11,0%

No strong business case

9,1%

12,0%

7,2%

9,8%

3,1%

9,2%

1,2%

Lack of willingness to take risks

5,0%

4,3%

5,9%

3,7%

3,1%

4,8%

7,3%

None/no barriers exists

8,4%

8,4%

9,1%

6,1%

6,2%

6,8%

12,2%

VIEWPOINT REPORT

17

DATA GOVERNANCE,CONFIDENCE IS KEY

of the difficulties you may encounter in collecting
quality data.

The survey has also investigated how businesses
deal with governance now that data complexity is
increasing day by day.
In considering how they handle and use data today, companies recognize that the major challenges to better data management are represented
by data quality (48%), retrieval (46%) and security(44%), while access to data is slightly less problematic (39%).
Rates are even higher for leaders and this is not acontradiction. As they are the ones adopting themost advanced approach, they are most aware

LOOKING AT HOW DATAIS HANDLED AND USED IN
YOUR COMPANY TODAY,
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER
TO BE THE MAJOR
CHALLENGES TO BETTERDATA MANAGEMENT?
Figure 10: Major challenges todata management

DO YOU TRUST THE DATA
YOU ARE DEPENDENTUPON TODAY FOR YOUR
BUSINESS?

However, leaders or not, most people think thatexisting governance tools are limited; but in fact,
innovation in this area is taking place mostly via
open source forms. Here most companies arelagging behind in big data competences andtechnologies.
Data governance limits are mirrored by a lack ofconfidence in the data companies depend upon
for their business. Less than half of the companies
are confident about the information they manage.
That’s not surprising: when quality is a major challenge to be careful is healthy. Only leaders trust
the data they are using (85%).

TOTAL
1,189alhigh/fairly high

39,0%

48,2%

46,6%

44,4%

Some/low degree

29,4%

28,9%

32,1%

Not applicable

2,7%

3,2%

3,0%

4,3%

Dk/Da

19,7%

21,2%

20,5%

21,8%

QUALITYRETRIEVAL

SECURITYACCESS

34,9%

TOTAL
1,189alEurope42,5 %Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America

Large
Companies

Leaders>1000 employees

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

55,4%

30,9%

54,9%

58,5%

50,7%

85,4%

Figure 11: Trust in data

% Top 2 Boxes
High + fairly high degree

VIEWPOINT REPORT

18

So, what could increase the level of confidence?
Data validation (71%) and security (71%) are key
drivers for quality. Also important are standardization (68%), as you need a benchmark for yourvalidation, and the definition of specific processes and infrastructures (67%) to allow advanced
reporting modalities.

About 1 in 2 will develop in-house competence,
while 20% will outsource or work through partnerships. The first reaction will understandably be to
be in control but, the more the companies mature,
the more external partnerships they will seek topursue progress, alliances with competitors included.

To overcome this obstacle, companies seemingly
will not be searching for a solution in futuristic
inventions, but by investing in human skills. Questioned on how they intend to manage the increasing data complexity, most of them answer they areplanning significant changes to their workforce inthe mid-term.

Leaders confirm this trend, with 73% developing in-house competences (being able to dealautonomously with basic data management needs
is becoming more and more essential) and 22%
working with external partners.
However, whether located inside or outside thecompany, the occupation as a data scientist willdefinitely be one of the key positions in the future.

As big data is a relatively new topic, the percentage of companies that haven’t made up their mind
yet as to how to approach this is around 30%, but
the others are ready to take action.

HOW IMPORTANT ARE
THE FOLLOWING IN
INCREASING YOURCONFIDENCE IN THE DATAYOU USE TODAY?

100%
Very/fairly
important

90%
80%
70%
71,0%

70,6%

67,5%

67,2%

12,6%
1,3%

12,7%
1,5%

16,3%

14,1%

1,3%

1,5%

15,1%

15,3%

14,9%

17,2%

DATA VALIDATIONSECURITY

STANDARDIZATIONPROCESS AND
INFRASTRUCTURE
AT DATA60%

not/somewhat
important

50%
40%

Figure 12: Drivers for quality

30%
20%
10%

not
applicable

Dk/Da

0%

HOW DO YOU PLAN ON
MANAGING THE
INCREASED COMPLEXITYOF DATA, I.E CHALLENGES
RELATED TO VOLUME,
VELOCITY, VERACITY AND
VARIETY? (2-3 years from now)

TOTAL
1,189alDevelop in-housecompetence
Outsource/partnerships

Dk/Da

Europe

47,3%
19,9%
32,8%

Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

TOTAL
1,189alLeaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

51,9%

45,5%

46,3%

33,8%

44,0%

73,2%

19,8%

20,8%

11,0%

24,6%

19,8%

22,0%

28,3%

33,7%

42,7%

41,6%

36,2%

4,8%

Figure 13: Future set-ups
to manage increasing data
complexity

VIEWPOINT REPORT19

FUTURE OUTLOOKBIG DATAIMPACTS MID-TERM
Questioned on the mid-term outlook, roughly
38% think that big data will directly affect theirbusiness; awareness is particularly high for North
Americans (57%) and for large companies (53%).
They consistently agree on the key role big datacapabilities will be playing for their companies 2
or 3 years from now (57%: +12% vs present). North
Americans (67%: +11%) and Europeans (64%:+14%) are among the strongest supporters. The
same goes for large companies (72%: +12%).

HOW DO YOU FORESEETHAT BIG DATA WILL
AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS IN
THE NEXT 2-3 YEARS?

9 in 10 LEADERS think that big data
will directly affect their business inthe future.

All LEADERS (99%) agree on theimportant role big data will beplaying for their companies in thenear future.

TOTAL
1,189alEurope37,8 %Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

41,9%

30,1%

57,3%

49,2%

52,6%

90,2%

EuropeAsia

North
America

CentralSouth
America

Large
Companies

Leaders>1000 employees

Figure 14: Impact of big data on
business in the mid-term future% Top 2 Boxes
High + fairly high degree

HOW IMPORTANT WILL BE
BIG DATA CAPABILITIES(COMPETENCES,TECHNOLOGY, METHODS,
ETC.) TO YOUR COMPANY
IN 2-3 YEAR TIME?
Figure 15: Importance of big
data capabilities from a businessperspective in the mid-term

TOTAL
1,189al57,4 %

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

64,4%

50,6%

67,1%

56,9%

72,0%

98,8%

% Top 2 Boxes
Very important + important

VIEWPOINT REPORT

20

PREPARING FOR
THE FUTURE
A total of 65% are preparing for the new reality,with large companies (76%) and North Americans(74%) among most active pioneers.

All LEADERS are preparing forthe future.

Omitting those who don’t know what to answer,
although the topic is still somewhat new and hasn’t
yet revealed the full potential of its revolutionary
impact, 75% of the companies worldwide plan
to maintain or even increase investments in big
data. Once again North Americans confirm theirpronounced interest, with 52% stating they will
invest more than today. With rates around 26%,
large companies also confirm their position.

ARE YOU AND YOURMANAGEMENT TEAM
PREPARING FOR THIS NEWREALITY?

TOTAL
1,189alYes

IS YOUR COMPANY GOINGTO INVEST IN BIG DATA IN
THE NEXT 2-3 YEARS?
Figure 17: Intention of
investment*Attention: low basis

48,6%

No

Dk/Da

Europe15,9%To some extent

Figure 16: Preparing for the
futureAll LEADERS will invest. 1 in 2 will
increase funds.

32,2%
3,3%

RESPONDENTS
619

More than today

33,1%

Same as today

Less than today

No investments at all

42,9%
5,0%
19,0%

Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

16,3%

15,6%

20,7%

9,2%

25,1%

100,0%

51,1%

46,7%

53,7%

52,3%

51,2%

0,0%

29,6%

34,1%

23,2%

33,8%

22,2%

0,0%

3,0%

3,6%

2,4%

4,7%

1,5%

0,0%

EuropeAsia

North
America

CentralSouth
America

Large
Companies

Leaders>1000 employees

n=218

n=290

n=42*

n=32*

n=106

n=82

37,1%

25,4%

52,4%

28,0%

51%

51,2%

42,2%

45,6%

40,5%

46,9%

36,7%

48,8%

3,7%

5,9%

2,3%

12,6%

4,7%

0,0%

17,0%

23,1%

4,7%

12,6%

7,6%

0,0%

VIEWPOINT REPORT21

OPPORTUNITIESFROM BIG DATAMANAGEMENT

related to daily work: operational processes (60%),
process planning (44%) and process improvement(42%).
In addition to the impact on operations (61%),
large companies see opportunities related mainly
to the improvement of their processes (53%), likely
because they are more mature.

Companies see the biggest potential for value
creation through better data management andautomation mainly bound to efficiency aspects:
improvement in day-to-day operations (52%), cost
reduction (48%), safety and security (27%) andcompliance (19%).
We are still in an “awakening” phase; companies
are just starting to deal with big data, which may
explain why opportunities related to the market record smaller rates. The improvement of customer
experience (30%), the innovation of the businessmodel and go to market strategies (24%) or theuncovering of new business opportunities (24%)
rank below efficiency aspects in the list of opportunities.

LEADERS’ rankings do not vary but they havea more intense perception of opportunities,
including those related to the market. This is clear
sign that they are moving beyond the awakening
phase.

Percentages may vary, but the tendency is similarin every region and for large companies too.
All, including LEADERS, see the biggest impact of
big data on their operational processes.

When considering the specific impact of betterdata management and automation on management systems, the areas of major potential are

IN WHAT AREAS DO YOU SEE THE BIGGEST POTENTIAL FOR VALUECREATION THROUGH BETTER DATA MANAGEMENT AND AUTOMATION?

Figure 18: Opportunities forvalue creation(select up to 4)

Europe

TOTAL
1,189al

Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

51,6%

58,7%

45,4%

54,9%

60,0%

57,0%

58,5%

48,4%

Day-to day operations and work processes

52,4%

44,7%

62,2%

52,3%

53,6%

53,7%

Improve customer experience and engagement

30,4%

32,3%

26,2%

42,7%

33,8%

37,2%

39,0%

Safety and security

26,6%

23,6%

28,9%

19,5%

29,2%

25,1%

25,6%

Innovation of the business model and go tomarket strategies

24,4%

21,2%

25,0%

20,7%

36,9%

31,4%

39,0%

Uncover new business opportunities

23,7%

24,7%

22,3%

23,2%

32,3%

27,1%

29,3%

Investments in technology

22,1%

24,2%

22,8%

14,6%

18,5%

24,2%

39,0%

Compliance

19,3%

19,6%

18,9%

28,0%

6,2%

18,8%

19,5%

Supply chain set-up

16,9%

17,7%

16,6%

9,8%

20,0%

15,5%

22,0%

Reducing costs

Relationships to 3rd parties and regulatory
authorities

9,8%

14,7%

5,5%

11,0%

12,3%

7,7%

9,8%

Environmental footprint

7,7%

9,8%

7,3%

4,9%

6,2%

10,6%

14,6%

7,4%

5,7%

8,6%

6,1%

6,2%

11,1%

8,5%

2,1%

1,6%

1,8%

6,1%

3,1%

1,9%

0,0%

Plants and physical assets
Other

VIEWPOINT REPORT

22

Certification might help companies successfully
exploit data to improve their operations.
Measurement difficulties are often reported during
audits; this means that companies are not able
to collect the right data that might help them
improve their processes. A management system
in line with the prerequisites of international
standards will help in gathering the correct data.

60% of LEADERS believe inthird party involvement invalidating and distributing data
to stakeholders.

A total of 47% actually think that third party
validation might help them to exploit data andconsequently to present them to suppliers andstakeholders as validated by a reliable source.

IN WHAT AREAS OF YOUR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (E.G. QUALITY,ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY, ETC.) DO YOU SEE THE BIGGEST IMPACT
THROUGH BETTER DATA MANAGEMENT AND AUTOMATION?

Figure 19: Impact of better data
management on management
systems(select up to 3)

TOTAL
1,189alEuropeOperation processes (manufacture of
products, delivery of services, etc.)

59,5%

Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America>1000 employees

LargeCompanies

Leaders

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

56,5%

60,0%

65,9%

67,7%

61,4%

68,3%

Planning processes

43,9%

48,9%

37,2%

52,4%

58,5%

38,2%

50,0%

Improvement processes

42,6%

47,8%

37,4%

50,0%

46,2%

52,7%

36,6%

Performance evaluation processes

38,6%

43,5%

36,1%

31,7%

40,0%

41,1%

36,6%

Context (e.g. understandingneeds/expectations from stakeholders, etc.)

21,7%

19,3%

23,6%

20,7%

23,1%

24,2%

31,7%

Support processes (hr, admin, etc.)

21,3%

20,9%

22,0%

12,2%

24,6%

22,2%

11,0%

Leadership processes

18,1%

17,4%

18,0%

26,8%

15,4%

20,8%

28,0%

IN ORDER TO SHARE YOURDATA WITH YOUR SUPPLIERS
AND STAKEHOLDERS,WOULD YOU APPRECIATEHAVING AN INDEPENDENTTHIRD PARTY (A KIND OFDATA CUSTODIAN) SERVINGAS YOUR TRUSTED SOURCEOF DATA?
Figure 20: Importance of third
party data validation

TOTAL
1,189alEurope47,1 %Asia

North
America

CentralSouth
America

Large
Companies

Leaders>1000 employees

n=368

n=615

n=82

n=65

n=207

n=82

40,5%

52,3%

34,1%

53,8%

48,3%

59,7%

% Top 3 Boxes
High + fairly high + some degree

VIEWPOINT REPORT23

VIEWPOINT REPORT24

MANAGEMENTSYSTEMS IN A
WORLD FULL OF
DATA
For decades, analyzing data and applying
statistical techniques have been tools to
support process improvement after going
through the Plan, Do, Check and Act in a
Management System. With the advent of big
data there is more opportunity to turn thewheel of continual improvement.
How are management systems copingwith this today? To answer that question
we analysed the found whilst auditing ourcustomers’ management systems. It appears
that there are relatively more findings against
the requirements (clauses) related to measurement processes and products comparedto other requirements (clauses). This themeis visible across all the industries. This is interesting: as the world becomes more digitaland generates more data, management
systems are expected to excel in using data
to fuel the improvement cycle. It appears that
it is still a challenge for many organizations todo this.
This puts us on to some interesting observations around big data and management
systems.
• Organizations should control their processes to create and collect only high quality

data. Without data quality, it’s problematic todraw any valid conclusions.
• At the same time, the data pool is expanding rapidly beyond the normal transactional & structured data set. For example,
the data generated by the internet of things,
website visits & clicks or pictures & videos.
This presents new challenges in managing
and analyzing available data.
• With cloud technology, it’s easy to sharedata, the boundaries of the management
systems are blurring and value chains are
more integrated.
• At the very least, analyses should be
performed in relation to customers, productconformity, processes and supplier performance.
This provides an opportunity to improve
management systems’ ability to take care ofdata quality and the ability to extract value
from the data. Quality Managers will need todevelop more analytical skill sets to exploit
the potential of data in their management
systems.

VIEWPOINT REPORT

25

FOOD INDUSTRY EYES BIG DATAHOW IMPORTANT WILL BIG DATACAPABILITIES BE TO YOUR COMPANY IN
2-3 YEARS? Very important + important
Total (1,189)
Food & beverage (77)

57,4%

62,3%

HOW DO YOU FORESEE THAT BIG DATAWILL AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS IN THE
NEXT 2-3 YEARS? Very important + important
Total (1,189)
Food & beverage (77)

37,8%

49,4%

Big data is getting big buzz
among food industry leaders
as a potential game changer
in the critical arenas of foodsafety, product development
and supply chain management.
Responses from the food andbeverage companies in thesurvey indicate a forwardleaning approach. They are
eying opportunities to tackle
complex challenges and many
are already moving to takeadvantage.

responding to the survey, 47%
see big data analytics as anopportunity. Very few see it asa threat and 51% indicated thatthey did not know.
However, over a quarter of thecompanies have already seen
productivity boosts from using
big data concepts (28%) and
25% have a clear strategy on
big data. This picture mirrorsthat of the total sample,
indicating that the food andbeverage industry by no means
is lagging behind the others.

When looking at the foodand beverage companies

WHAT BARRIERS ARE
PREVENTING YOUR
COMPANY FROM TAKINGADVANTAGE OF BIG DATA?
(Select up to 3)

Total (1,189)
Food & beverage (77)Lack of an overall strategy

18,2%

24,4%

Insufficient technical skills

22,1%

23,5%

Too many competing priorities

19,8%

Lack of management understanding

19,7%

Security concerns

16,9%
15,6%
19,5%

17,4%

Lack of organizational agility

12,2%Lack of collaborative, sharing culture

12,0%

7,8%
15,6%

No strong business case9,1%None/no barriers exists

8,4%

2,6%
6,5%
5,2%

5,0%

Lack of willingness to take risks

30%

14,3%

10,3%

Lack of employees incentives

20%

10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

VIEWPOINT REPORT

26

FOOD INDUSTRY EYESBIG DATA
TAKING ACTION
Almost half also indicated that they had alreadyundertaken specific actions. This is not very
different than for the overall sample, but thepreferred actions for the food and beveragecompanies are slightly different and seem tocenter around efficiency and financial savings,
brand reputation and supply chain management.
This could indicate that the companies surveyed
consider big data concepts to have the potential
to help them address needs for efficiency in anindustry where pressure on margins is extremely
high. Moreover, the food and beverage industry
is forced to manage an increasingly complex risk
picture of extensive supply chains, often crossing
borders, linked to the threat of costly recalls
due to food safety failures. In this industry, mostincidents directly impact the consumers, and thus
threaten the bottom line, reputation and brand.
What may be particular to this industry is that foodsafety failures can impact not only the responsible
company, but entire supply chains and ultimately
the whole industry. This has driven cross-industry
collaborations like GFSI (Global Food Safety
Initiative), developed in the light of the fact thatfood safety is seen as a non-competitive issue.
FUTURE COLLABORATIONS
It will be interesting to see how the industry
approaches big data in the near future. Big data
concepts could be applied to address individualcompany challenges, but also as a foundation
for industry collaborations to tackle common
issues related to food safety. The potential in data
sharing to address supply chain vulnerabilities,

food fraud or traceability, for example, is an
intriguing thought.
In the survey, a higher number of food andbeverage companies indicate that they trust thedata they depend upon today (55% vs 43%). This
seems to relate to confidence in their own data
validation, the quality of data and infrastructure,
which are of high importance to companies in thisindustry. Sharing data among industry players,
may pose some questions around trust. Individual
players must ask themselves how willing they
are to base important decisions that impact theiroperations and/or reputation upon someone else’s
data. Over half the companies (52%) indicate thatthey see the need for a data custodian role, i.e. an
independent verifier that could assure the data
quality and instill trust in shared data sets.
THE INDUSTRY WILL GO BIG
All in all the ViewPoint survey gives reason for
optimism. The food and beverage companies
seem to be more certain than the total sampleof the importance of having big data capabilities
in the future (62% vs 57%). Moreover, a higher
number of food and beverage companies indicatethat big data will have a high or fairly high impact
on their business in the next 2-3 years (49% vs
38% for the total sample). The companies in thisindustry indicate fewer barriers, even today, intaking advantage of big data concepts. Already,21% say that their management team is preparing
for the new reality and seemingly more food andbeverage companies plan to invest in big data.
A total of, 41% indicate a higher investment than
today. Almost half indicate at the same level today.
Combined, this provides a willingness to invest thatis slightly higer than the total survey sample.
VIEWPOINT REPORT27

OUR FINAL THOUGHTSIt is still early, for most companies,
but big data is clearly a topic that is
finding space on everybody’s agenda.
From the leaders, we see that big
data does have a positive impact on
their operations and that with moreexperience, it will become even more
important. Half of them are evenplanning to increase investments inthe years to come.
It is a complex topic requiring a good deal ofattention and maturity to really see how it may
impact one’s own operation in terms of opportunities and threats. Hence, we see that many
implement standalone initiatives, but few haveestablished a big data strategy.
We see clear signs of the transformative power ofbig data from the way that the leaders go beyond
just enhancing information management andimplementing new technologies and methods toalso implementing changes to culture, competence and organization as well as transforming
their business models and go-to-market strategies.
Competing priorities seems to be one of the key
challenges to accelerate the process of leverag-ing big data to address new opportunities andthreats. This is even more predominant for theleaders. The natural response to change in themarketplace is often to just optimise further on
the existing product/service and business model,
and this requires more effective management prioritisations. If you want to transform your businessmodel, you consider the new capabilities and insights big data brings and you may re-design how
you can create value to your customers, leading
to new services and value propositions.
As we see from this survey and what is happening
in the market, when more critical decisions are
based on data, the reliability of the data becomesa much more important factor in managing risks
and outcomes. Anything from unintentional skewing of data quality, through malicious cyber-attacks to conscious tampering (of which we haveseen some major industrial examples recently),
the need to guarantee the quality of the data andalgorithms used is increasing. This will be one of
the core focuses for DNV GL going forward in thisspace, to play a role that enables companies toleverage on this new technology and methods toincrease their value creation in a safe and sustainable way. This we will do through improving
methodologies for following up management
systems, contributing to the development ofstandards and the development of new services
and assurance roles that will aid data validationand sharing.

VIEWPOINT REPORT28

PROFILINGTHE
LEADERSLEADERS’
APPROACH TO
BIG DATA■■LEADERS are strong big data supporters. They clearly
see it as an opportunity, both in general and for their own
company.

■■

They set an ad-hoc strategy and implement dedicatedinitiatives. LEADERS do not limit their investments to newtechnologies and new methods but invest in people,
arranging for training or similar activities, and changing
their organizations, for instance, with new delivery models.

■■LEADERS’ approach to big data is well rounded and they
are incorporating its use into their organizations. They area step ahead and understandably profit more than othersdo, both in terms of efficiency and market advantages.

■■

They recognize the impact that big data will have on
business in the mid-term future and are preparing for it,
and are ready to increase their investments, too.

01

LEADERS see big data as an opportunity.

02

LEADERS have a clear strategy on big data.

03

LEADERS invest considerably in big data related initiatives.

04

In addition to initiatives focusing on new technology andmethods, LEADERS also carry out people related actions,such as training, and changes to their organizations, such as
introducing new delivery models.

05

Strategy and management understanding are not preventing
LEADERS from leveraging on big data.

06

LEADERS profit much more than others do from big data
initiatives.

07

LEADERS recognize the impact that big data will have on
business in the mid-term future and are preparing for it.

08

Big data will implicate efficiency and market related
opportunities for LEADERS.

09

LEADERS will maintain or increase their investments in big
data.

10

For LEADERS, certification will help them build trust in big
data.

VIEWPOINT REPORT29

www.dnvglviewpoint.com
The trademarks DNV GL and the Horizon Graphic are the property of DNV GL AS.
All images by Thinkstock unless specified.
© DNV GL AS 2016. All rights reserved.