For big data, cost is the biggest obstacle for organisations not yet using big data and also those currently using it.
For organisations that have big data but are not yet using it, the primary barriers are not knowing if the benefits are worth the cost (20 percent), the cost of IT infrastructure (18 percent) and the cost is too high to outsource analysis or operations (17 percent).
Meanwhile, for organisations that are currently using big data, the cost of IT infrastructure is the primary barrier (29 percent).
However, for organisations that are currently using big data, security is the second biggest concern (28 percent).
Interestingly, survey respondents with business (i.e., non-IT) titles see the challenges differently. For them security is the top barrier (31 percent) while cost is secondary (25 percent),
For cloud adoption and usage, cost and security are both large barriers - the top barrier depends on the perceived security level of the cloud type.
Higher costs are most frequently top risks of adopting private cloud, with 28 percent of organisations citing short-term cost risks and 23 percent citing long-term cost risks.
On the other hand, managed private cloud, with 28 percent of organisations citing short-term cost risks and 23 percent citing long-term cost risks and hybrid cloud, with 30 percent of organizations citing short-term cost risks and 24 percent citing long-term cost risks.
Security is the biggest barrier to adoption of public clouds (44 percent) and SaaS (38 percent) but in general, 42 percent of the small portion of organisations not formally using cloud yet said security issues were the reason - far more than any other reason named.
For mobility, security concerns are the number one barrier to mobility expansion, but cost is the second biggest barrier.
Findings claim that security and fear of data breach is the most frequent barrier to expanding mobility (42 percent of organisations) while limited budget is the second most frequent barrier to expansion (34 percent of organisations).
Other barriers include limitations of current IT infrastructure (24 percent), too many IT platforms/operating systems to support (23 percent) and limited technical/IT resources (23 percent).
Cost concerns and security challenges seem to go hand in hand however, with the study findings that an organisation’s IT budget greatly impacted its level of security planning and implementation.
Below the US$100,000 IT annual spend level, fewer than one in five organisations have comprehensive security plans and below the $25,000 IT annual spend level, fewer than half have formal security plans of any kind.
Alarmingly perhaps, below the US$10,000 IT annual spend level, findings claim that nearly one in five companies have no security policies at all - not even informal guidelines.
Partnering
At present, business leaders are the drivers for big data and mobility adoption, but they partner with the IT team for cloud and security.
Organisations globally named business teams as leading the adoption of big data and mobility much more frequently than IT teams.
According to the report, this might explain why business decision makers in organisations surveyed were more likely than their IT counterparts to feel their organisations took good advantage of big data.
Business teams lead adoption of big data 18 percent more often than IT teams but they lead adoption of mobility 42 percent more often than IT teams.
However, both business and IT leaders are equally likely to lead adoption of cloud and security, suggesting these teams partner more closely on these initiatives.