A Forbes survey among 480 large global organisations reveals that only 4 per cent of organisations have achieved the capability to perform predictive analytics through Big Data. If we look at the Indian market, the statistics look bleaker. On the other hand, everyone is talking about Big Data and its horizon of possibilities. The fact that Big Data has become a buzzword among organisations cannot be denied. The question is, “How long will it continue to remain a buzzword before organisations start extracting real benefits out of it?”

Big Data allows an organisation to gather predictive intelligence about some of HR’s most pressing problems, such as attrition. But there are several other possibilities that Big Data can bring to an organisation and therefore, it is important that HR leaders do not restrict their thinking about Big Data only to the tried and the understood. Abhijit Bhaduri, Chief Learning Officer at Wipro says, “Big Data can have as many manifestations in as many places in an organisation as anyone’s thinking allows.”

The question about how Big Data will pick up among Indian organisations is yet to be seen, but the signs are positive. Many believe that the adoption of Big Data depends on the industry and sector that an organisation operates in. Vinay Johar, Founder & CEO, of the resume analytics company RChilli says, “The wave of Big Data will not be uniform across sectors.” For example, the IT/IT-based industries owing their large workforces and inherent technology acumen will be among the first industries to adopt and make Big Data mainstream. Privacy regulations may restrict the financial services industry to gain the full benefit from Big Data as quickly as other industries.

Big Data in India will remain a buzzword for a while before we start seeing real use-cases of remarkable benefits that organisations gained through its use. It is, however, good to see that Big Data continues to evoke strong optimistic sentiments among both business and HR leaders, and this is a positive sign.