The Telefónica Foundation has presented its Annual Report on the Information Society in Spain, which confirms the great advance in the digitalization of Spanish society.
According to the data in the report, “Spain is at the forefront of innovation”, being the leading European country in terms of the use of new generation networks, with total coverage that already reaches 95% of the total, increasing 19 points compared to the previous year (2015). More and more companies, entities and administrations are betting on Big Data technology as a tool for decision-making. In fact, 35% of large companies (companies with more than 500 employees) made investments in this area during 2016. SMEs are also aware of the potential of Big Data, investing 28% and small companies investing 20%. The Telefónica Foundation points out in the report that this trend towards Big Data will grow even more. Even so, much remains to be done. José María LaSalle, Secretary of State for the Information Society and the Digital Agenda, believes that “we still have work ahead of us if we want Spain to be at the forefront of innovation, and if we want to respect our citizens in accordance with digital laws”. In this regard, if 10% of companies were fully digitized in 2020, Spain's GDP would increase to 3%.
What is Big Data?
Big Data is defined as the management and analysis of enormous volumes of data that cannot be treated in a conventional way, since they exceed the limits and capabilities of the software tools commonly used for data capture, management and processing. The concept of Big Data encompasses all those infrastructures, technologies and services that have been created to provide a solution to the processing of large amounts of data.Main purpose of Big Data, like that of the most conventional analytical systems, is convert data into valuable information that allows the company to make decisions.Mainly, Big Data is used by companies to better understand the profile, needs and way of thinking of their customers regarding the products or services offered.
