Experts are warning businesses to prepare themselves for a forthcoming 'big data' flood by embracing new technologies and ensuring they have the correct data centre capacity in place.

A 10 year study conducted by Oracle of how prepared companies are for the next generation of data centre needs has warned that some businesses may be caught out.

"Many businesses seem to have been caught off guard by the boom in ‘Big Data," said Oracle.

The survey suggests cloud computing services may contribute to a rush of data which in-house data centres could struggle to handle.

On examining data centre strategy within organisations, Oracle used a 0 to 10 scale with 10 being the most sophisticated data centre strategy possible.

949 managers from countries across Europe, Russia and the Middle East were surveyed and the average data centre strategy score was 5.58, indicating that improvements could be made within many organisations.

The 'big data' boom means businesses will have to monitor and measure enormous amounts of data to stay ahead of the competition - meaning outsourcing data centres to store, sift, sort and analyse data could be an attractive option for companies over the coming years.

"Wrestling with Big Data is going to be the single biggest IT challenge businesses face over the next two years," said Luigi Freguia, senior vice president of systems at Oracle EMEA.

"By the end of that period they will either have got it right or they will be very seriously adrift of their own business and the threats and opportunities posed by Big Data."

Written by Louise Boyd
 

'Big Data' flood could swamp unprepared businesses