So while investment in big data continues to increase in 2015 (up 3% on 2014 ), it is not as rapidly as in previous years.

Nick Heudecker, research director at Gartner, said: “This year begins the shift of big data away from a topic unto itself, and toward standard practices. The topics that formerly defined big data, such as massive data volumes, disparate data sources and new technologies are becoming familiar as big data solutions become mainstream. For example, among companies that have invested in big data technology, 70% are analysing or planning to analyse location data, and 64% are analysing or planning to analyse free-form text.”

When asked about ROI for big data efforts, the majority of those companies with plans to invest in big data and those that have invested, expect a positive ROI. However, a large proportion of companies ( 43% of those planning to invest and 38% of those that have already invested) don’t know if their ROI will be positive or negative.

As in previous years, organisations are overwhelmingly targeting enhanced customer experience as the primary goal of big data projects ( 64%). Process efficiency and more-targeted marketing were tied at 47% and enhanced security capabilities saw the largest increase, from 15% to 23%.

The survey, which was conducted among 437 Gartner research circle members in June 2015, included global organisations across all industries.