There is now a great deal of discussion about big data. IBM's Institute for Business Value and Oxford University's Saïd Business School conducted a global big data research report, interviewing the heads of more than 1,100 large enterprises and institutions worldwide. This research report yielded many very interesting findings.

　　Among the heads of the enterprises and institutions surveyed, 63% of respondents explicitly stated that big data analysis is an indispensable key tool throughout the entire production process and its stages, whereas in 2010 this figure was only 37%.

　　Are enterprises and institutions really doing this work now? Through this global research report, we found that 75% of the enterprises and institutions surveyed explicitly stated that they have already begun big data analysis work. Big data is a business proposition driven by high business value, so among these 75% of enterprises and institutions, 47% of clients and institutions are currently exploring big data.

　　In the process of big data exploration, formulating a big data strategy is often the top priority. When many enterprises and institutions are starting out with big data, they often need to treat big data as a strategic-level matter and define it within the enterprise or institution. After defining the big data strategy, it is often also necessary to define the entire big data business blueprint. Moreover, this work is very important and also quite challenging. Once the business blueprint and the big data business scenarios are defined, a large amount of production practice work will follow.

　　The survey also found that 75% of clients worldwide have already taken action on big data, and a large portion of the big data projects they are undertaking are related to customers. 49% of the projects involve how to use the full-set analysis of big data correlations in order to gain a deeper understanding of the entities they serve. This is because only with a deeper and more precise understanding and classification of customers can new business value and business opportunities be discovered.