Data usage among leading trends, Gartner says

Tech procurement officers are likely wondering which areas are worthy of investment, which are several years off and which will never come to fruition at all. The recent Gartner market overview attempted to clear up such questions, noting the current state of tech industry hype. The use of data to determine customer preferences was high on the list.

The source reported that businesses will soon use advanced technology to mine their customers for insights. According to the study, firms are interested in crowdsourcing decisions and analyzing social interactions online. Data drawn from such activities will be stored as unstructured, big data rather than in classic spreadsheets.

Efforts to actively tap in to the voice of the consumer could go awry without effective data management techniques and data quality tools. While big data is different in both amount and format than standard information, the objective of keeping information as accurate as possible is still valid and important.

The next wave of technological improvements will not be stymied by low IT budgets, according to a recent KPMG survey. The research firm noted that, though firms have been scaling back on IT purchases, there has been significant money allotted to new tech areas, as long as executives see the potential for a strong return on investment.