Data streaming delivers 2-10x ROI for businesses: Confluent

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 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 300 of respondents in Australia, using data streaming from across seven countries and representing mid-size 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.

Security and compliance awareness was the most applicable use case for data streaming in Australian organisations (53%), with 61% saying "improving cybersecurity and digital risk management" presented the highest potential value for their business. In addition, 49% of organisations had data streaming in production and at work to improve cybersecurity and digital risk management.

"Data streaming has become the de facto way innovative organisations process and derive value from their data. Australian business leaders are savvy to this trend and are already reaping the benefits of data streaming, particularly in cybersecurity and compliance where many organisations with legacy solutions have been left exposed over the past year," says Simon Laskaj, regional director for ANZ at Confluent.

Also known as event stream processing, data streaming is the continuous flow of data generated by various sources. It can be processed, stored, analysed, and acted upon as it's developed in real-time. 

Some key findings from Australian respondents in the 2023 Data Streaming Report are as follows.  

55% of organisations in level two of the Data Streaming Maturity Curve are achieving or anticipating 2-5x returns, increasing to 68% for level three companies and 89% for level four businesses.

65% of IT leaders report their organisations are seeing significant or emerging benefits from data streaming regarding an increased product or service profitability.

When asked about the use of data streaming across organisations, 85% said "security/compliance awareness" either generally applied or the organisation was moving in that direction, followed by embedded security/compliance (83%) and real-time enterprise vision (82%).

83% of respondents say investments in data streaming are essential, with 38% citing it as a top strategic priority for IT investments overall. 

70% of IT leaders have data streaming in production for critical systems, and 54% cite that five or more of their organisation's critical systems are reliant on the technology.

94% of respondents said the number of data streaming projects would either increase steadily or rapidly over the next three years.

80% said "fragmented projects, uncoordinated teams and budgets" was either a "major hurdle" or "can be a challenge" when quantifying hurdles to enhancing data streaming infrastructure, followed by a "lack of funding for infrastructure modernisation projects" and "fragmented ownership of systems and data" (both 77%).

90% of respondents say training and recruitment to bolster skills is a high or medium priority as they continue to invest in data streaming over the next 12 months.

"As organisations look to move their applications of data streaming beyond a few use cases to mission-critical level, they need to create a strategic vision for the technology across the business. The C-suite needs to be engaged at this level to help drive business-wide integrated practices and efficiencies," explains Laskaj.

"Organisations are prioritising areas where data streaming capability and ROI is greatest, but the real value comes when they reach 'real-time enterprise' status and can drive value across departments and business functions."

The survey, designed by Freeform Dynamics and conducted by Radma Research between February and March 2023, collected responses from 2,250 IT leaders across Australia, France, Germany, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Qualifying respondents were from organisations that use data streaming and has more than 500 employees.