Big data beats mobile and cloud as expected growth driver

Security is still the biggest barrier to adoption of new technologies, big data is growing in importance as a growth driver at the same time that mobile and cloud are shrinking, and an equal number of companies find cloud adoption easy as find it challenging.

Those are the most interesting tidbits I pulled from KPMG’s 2013 Technology Industry Business Outlook survey.

Here are the most notable nuggets from the 40-page report:

-- At 33 percent, advanced data and analytics wasn’t the top area that execs said they expected to be the biggest driver of revenue growth for their companies in the next three years, but it showed a notable increase. In 2012, just 19 percent of the executives said that advanced data and analytics would be the top growth driver. Big data continues to take center stage.

This year, cloud computing and mobile tied, with 38 percent of the executives saying those technologies would be the top driver of growth. But they’re both down – cloud had 51 percent last year and mobile 48 percent. Consumerization was also down, just slightly, from 23 percent in 2012 to 20 percent this year. Are mobile, cloud and consumerization becoming passe?

-- The report also found that a nearly equal number of technology companies struggled with adopting the cloud as found it easy. More were smack in the middle. Forty three percent of tech company execs said that they adopted the cloud and found minor challenges integrating it into business strategies and operations. Fourteen percent said they found it easy and 15 percent found “major challenges.”

-- Cloud service providers are sure to be disappointed with this stat: 47 percent of respondents said that security and privacy issues are the biggest challenges for businesses in adopting cloud technologies. That’s up from 39 percent last year. Cloud providers have been struggling to convince potential customers that they’ve got security and privacy covered, but at least judging from this survey, it looks like that message isn’t getting across.

Behind security and privacy is a big one that I’m hearing a lot about: corporate culture/change management. Thirty percent said that was the biggest challenge for cloud adoption. Last week at OpenStack a number of presenters including PayPal and the U.S. National Security Agency talked about the challenges they faced in terms of internal changes when they started using the cloud.

KPMG surveyed 102 high-level technology industry executives from large enterprises. Read more here.

Read more of Nancy Gohring's "To the Cloud" blog and follow the latest IT news at ITworld. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @ngohring. For the latest IT news, analysis and how-tos, follow ITworld on Twitter and Facebook.