How IT leaders are turning data into actionable insights using search technology [Infographic]

More data is being created than ever before. With an expected 181 zettabytes of data created in 2025 (compared to 64.2 zettabytes in 2020), there’s a lot more of it to make use of. Over the next five years, 80% of that data will be unstructured, according to IDC. This data isn’t just applicable to big data projects with hypothetical opportunities, either. It’s the lifeblood for real, concrete, business-critical use cases that are applicable to businesses of all sizes and across all industries.

As an IT leader, you’re tasked with accelerating digital transformation, supercharging scalability, and improving customer experiences (among a plethora of other business priorities). To achieve all of these objectives, you need technologies that can supercharge your decision-making and turn data into actionable insights.

In the new global study conducted by Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Elastic, over 800 data leaders across eight countries and three industries found the technology to create actionable insights is search-powered technology. 

The exponential growth of unstructured data

Data is the lifeblood of mission-critical business systems. You store data on-prem, in hybrid cloud environments, and across multiple vendors and partners. So, how are you meant to make use of it when it’s siloed and dispersed without proper data ingestion? Seventy-seven percent of data leaders agree that information silos prevent the use of data to accelerate business growth. And because data is everywhere, siloed, and hidden, there are challenges with finding, sharing, and visualizing it. These challenges most commonly lead to security issues.

So, we’ve established that data is important and there’s a whole lot of it. Now, how can you extract actionable insights from this data with speed and at scale?

Using search-powered technology to turn unstructured data into actionable insights

With all this unstructured, disparate data, organizations want to move toward an integrated platform rather than isolated point solutions, which contribute to these siloes, over the next three years. They want to become more data-driven while reducing complexity. This is where search-powered technologies come in.

Search-powered technologies are tools that enable the searching of data across multiple sources like websites, applications, databases, hybrid cloud environments, and other enterprise-type sources. They deliver data-driven insights to stakeholders at the moment they’re needed, regardless of where the data is located. Search-powered tech puts your data to work.

Organizations use search-powered technology to:

• Improve their cybersecurity. It’s one of the most common ways organizations take advantage of search technologies. Quickly uncover indicators of compromise (IOCs) to prevent, detect, and respond to threats across all data stores and all environments within and beyond your four walls. 
• Drive successful digital transformation initiatives by keeping your systems stable by monitoring IT infrastructure and getting real-time feedback so you can see problems before they impact your users. 
• Help your customers easily find that blue, long-sleeve, button-up shirt on your e-commerce website, and even recommend a pair of trousers based on past searches, improving their digital experience.  

Find out more about how organizations are using search-powered technologies to accelerate the journey from data insight to business value.

Read the Forrester study and check out the infographic below.