Data streaming is now the backbone for the most critical areas of a business—from personalised customer experiences to real-time business operations. The Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ: CFLT) 2023 Data Streaming Report: Moving Up the Maturity Curve dives into data streaming’s rise as a requirement for business success.
Based on a survey of 2,250 IT leaders, with over 30% of respondents in APAC, using data streaming from across seven countries and representing midsize to large enterprises across all major industries, the report makes clear that the technology is a must-have for running a more efficient, responsive, and ultimately more competitive business in this digital-first era.
The report is centred around the Data Streaming Maturity Curve, which maps out organisations’ adoption journey—from pre-production activity happening at Level 1 to data streaming as a strategic enabler for all areas of an enterprise at Level 5. The survey data found that the more a company invests in data streaming, the more benefits and returns they realise.
Key APAC findings from the 2023 Data Streaming Report include:
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Data Streaming Drives Business Value and Strong ROI
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68% of organisations in Level 2 of the Data Streaming Maturity Curve are achieving or anticipating 2x-5x returns, and this increases to 75% with Level 3 companies.
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73% of IT leaders report their organisations are seeing significant or emerging benefits from data streaming when it comes to increased product or service profitability.
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Data Streaming Is a Top Priority for IT Investments
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89% of respondents say investments in data streaming are important, with 49% citing it as a top strategic priority for IT investments overall.
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69% of IT leaders say they are using data streaming to power critical applications — and 57% cite that five or more of their organisation’s critical systems are reliant on the technology.
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Data Streaming’s Biggest Challenges: Silos, Skill Gaps and Governance
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76% of IT leaders cite that fragmented projects and uncoordinated teams and budgets can be a challenge or a major hurdle to advancing data streaming.
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Over 90% of respondents say fostering greater integration, bolstering skills with training and recruitment and strengthening data governance and compliance measures is a high or medium priority as they continue to invest in data streaming over the next 12 months.
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Today’s most successful organisations are those that are the fastest at turning data into action. Data streaming platforms provide the quickest, most reliable access to continuous streams of data that are updated in real-time. And, according to the report, data streaming is pervasive within businesses, powering a wide array of use cases that keep top-performing companies secure, agile, and ahead of customer expectations.
Vatsan Rama, IT Director for World Table Tennis explained, “Table tennis associations and fans around the world rely on us for real-time match and player statistics, so there’s no room for error or delays. To cover multiple events running in parallel across many countries, we needed to re-engineer our system to reliably scale and integrate hundreds of data points. With data streaming, we’re not only able to meet demands for live match scoring but have also introduced new experiences to increase audience engagement, like sophisticated AI for ball tracking, serve speeds, and analysis of rallies. This supports our ultimate goal of broadening table tennis as a sport and getting more people involved.”
“In an increasingly digital APAC, data is the lifeblood to driving innovation and helping organisations stay ahead of the curve. To fully harness its potential, data streaming holds the key to unlocking real-time, data-driven business decisions. At the same time, organisations can look forward to reducing operational complexities and bolstering resource efficiency, while adding value to rich and responsive customer experiences,” said Kamal Brar, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, Confluent.
However, as with many disruptive technologies, companies face common challenges when scaling implementations, including a persistent skills gap and silos across teams. The report identifies the most common challenges alongside expert advice on how to overcome these hurdles no matter where an organisation is on its data streaming journey.
