By Ocient Staff
2023 has been quite a year in data and it’s only fitting to begin our annual post looking forward to the year ahead with a quick look back. As a reminder, here is a look at our past predictions for the year gone by. In summary, we predicted that data would grow in size and complexity, which was almost too easy.
And while there is no doubt that data grew in size and complexity in 2023, it might be best summed up as the year of artificial intelligence (AI). The introduction of ChatGPT, generative AI and LLMs captured our imaginations, and leaders across industries including telecommunications, adtech and more began looking for ways to apply this transformative technology to drive business advantage. Our annual Beyond Big Data report, a survey of 500 IT & data leaders at companies big and small — from $50 million to $5 billion — showed that adoption of analytics and AI is becoming universal: 95% are investing in analytics infrastructure, and 92% are looking to use (or already using) AI.
So what does the year ahead hold? While we once again believe that it involves more continuous analysis of complex datasets, it’s the specific kinds of data sets and use cases for hyperscale analysis that are becoming increasingly clear. Below is a look at some of the trends we’re seeing among customers who are already analyzing big data sets.
The consequences of climate change continue to add up, so the need to incorporate climate data into business analytics is growing across most industries. 2024 will be an inflection point where advances in computing — including NVMe solid state drives, high-core-count CPUs, and hyperscale data analytics software — start changing the equation. Climate analysis that once required an ultra-expensive supercomputer will be possible with a handful of low-cost servers. As a result, we expect to see the first innovators begin bringing high-resolution climate analysis into the mainstream in 2024.
Almost half (47%) of data & IT leaders surveyed in the 2023 Beyond Big Data report said data quality is their top data analytics priority in the coming year. Additionally, 44% of those same respondents indicated that they are prioritizing bringing AI and ML to their data warehouse deployments. Organizations that understand and embrace the importance of using trusted, quality data to power AI/ML implementations will continue to deliver exceptional outcomes for their customers with data in 2024 and beyond.
The value of AI depends on the quality of its training data, and extracting maximum value from multimillion-dollar AI investments is challenging, particularly when the systems and architectures you’re using were not designed for massive data processing. The companies that will pave the way for the transformative power of AI in 2024 will be those that invest in hyperscale architectures as a strategic cornerstone vs a plug-in solution. We’ll start seeing a significant shift in the AI landscape as more and more businesses adopt this approach.
To learn even more about what’s on the mind of Chief Data Officers across industries, we recently partnered with CDO Magazine for a webinar that looked at 2023 and considered the year ahead.
No matter the scale or complexity of your data goals, our team is here to help meet them.