Executives Cite Security, Quality as Top Big Data Challenge in New Xerox Survey; Craig Saunders Comments

Xerox Corp. has released new survey results that indicate business executives are wary of security implications and quality of information in their big data initiatives.

Forrester Consulting conducted the survey of 330 executives from across Western Europe on behalf of Xerox to gauge the impact of big data maturity and data quality on the enterprise, Xerox said Thursday.

“Executives see the potential of data-driven intelligence taking root, but the soil is still quite rocky in spots,” said Craig Saunders, director of analytics resource center at Xerox.

Seventy percent of respondents have reported having encountered inaccurate data in their systems, and 37 percent cited data security and privacy as one of their top challenges in carrying out big data strategies.

A third of respondents said they plan to hire additional data engineers and scientists over the next two years in order to address the lack of data quality.

“Despite the challenges, the large majority of companies are moving forward with big data technology across a wide range of different use cases,” said Saunders.

“But there’s also a wide range of issues that keep executives up at night,” Saunders added.

The report reveals that organizations believe they lack user training and change management standards, which respondents say hinders business transformation.

Thirty percent of organizations said they seek to partner with external providers to accelerate big data initiatives over the next 12 months.