SMB's ability to action on data is more important that merely having vast data repositories, according to PanthaCorp.
Business development manager, Stephen Schwalger, said the need for resources and investment has kept Big Data away from SMBs.
“When you look at the resources a SMB may have, the ability for them to action on data is very challenging,” he said.
Schwalger adds that the “growing value of data" lies in Big Data being used properly.
“The challenge for SMB is not only the relevance of the data, but also how recent it is and how much value it is delivering for them,” he said.
Another challenge for SMBs is the lack of what Schwalger calls “value-added Software-as-a-Service offerings” that take and analyse data for organisations of that size.
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With organisations looking to drive more revenue from data integration and shipping data between organisations, Big Data is increasingly becoming a consideration.
Schwalger is already seeing some local businesses experiment with Big Data for efficiency, such as taking real-time data and then using it to change the way people interact with their services.
“That has some interesting use cases for the future, though the challenge is the scale and cost of that for SMBs,” he said.
As for the prospects for Big Data trickling down into SMBs in the future, Schwalger said he is currently “not seeing anything on the horizon” that will “radically change” the current situation.
“Data is important for SMBs, though their ability to use Big Data is not changing yet,” he said.
Patrick Budmar covers consumer and enterprise technology breaking news for IDG Communications. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_budmar.
