How organizations are being kept in the ‘dark’

A large percentage of data in private and public sector IT isn’t utilized for any purpose — a problem that artificial intelligence could potentially help prevent, according to a new report released by Splunk.

A survey, conducted by TRUE Global Intelligence, looked at global business and IT executives and managers from the US, UK, Germany, France, China, Japan and Australia and found 60 percent of respondents reported half of their data was “dark” (how the report describes unknown and untapped data).

“In an era when every organization says it’s trying to collect, manage and leverage more data than ever before, and every analyst, author and consultant evangelizes the necessity of analytics, it is surprising how much data is missing in action,” the report states.

Of the respondents, only 12 percent currently use AI in their businesses; however, 63 percent said they will do so in the next five years, according to the report.

One reason AI is not currently implemented in these businesses, according to the report, is a lack of knowledge. The report states that 81 percent of organizations lacked trained AI experts and 80 percent lacked an understanding of AI.

“A better, more complete understanding of an organization’s data will continue improvements in analytics-based decision-making, a key reason to surface dark data,” the report states. “This untapped data represents a world of potential to understand customer behavior and other metrics, propelling business forward.”

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