Earlier this month, I contributed an article on Forbes that discussed whether big data will live up to all the hype. In the article, I shared a few tips on how companies can overcome obstacles in dealing with big data. Perhaps most importantly, companies need to empower their employees to act on the insights they unlock.

 

We’re at a tipping point right now where a widespread base of companies and employees can and should be leveraging data for concrete benefits. To obtain true value from data insights, it’s important to remember that big data is everyone’s business. Employees should feel empowered to make real-time decisions.

 

The good news is we’re seeing progress here. More than half (59 percent) of business executives and IT decision makers indicated that more employees than ever before are involved in making decisions as a result of more widely available data. This finding comes from a global global survey Avanade conducted on the business returns of big data. You can check out my blog last month for more on these findings.

 

But, as I mention in the Forbes article, there are still challenges that must be overcome. The rise of big data reveals shortcomings in the talent to manage it and the willingness to make educated and informed decisions from it. Tom Groenfeld, a contributor at Forbes, said it best in a recent article, where he asked if big data was destined to flop like CRM. “Big data isn’t going to solve failures to execute on service,” Groenfeld stated. And he’s right. It’s time for companies and employees of all levels to take action.