Big data analytics is expected to deliver a positive return for 74% of organistaions in Europe, but benefits are not reaped due to poor data quality and a lack of data expertise.
Business benefits from big data is already being experienced by 56% of executives, while 61% of organisations said data-driven intelligence may play a key role in decision making during the next year.
Xerox Consulting and Analytics Services director of analytics resource centre Craig Saunders said: "Executives see the potential of data-driven intelligence taking root, but the soil is still quite rocky in spots. The ecosystem is full of challenges."
70% of organisations are still finding inaccurate information in their systems and 46% said it will have a negative impact on their business, leading to re-calculation or totally unusable data sets.
Data security and privacy has been rated as one of the major concerns in the implementation of big data strategies by 37%.
Saunders said: "Despite the challenges, the large majority of companies are moving forward with big data technology across a wide range of different use cases. But there’s also a wide range of issues that keep executives up at night."
Data quality issues are affecting 48% of companies in Germany, while several Belgium firms are concerned about a lack of user training and C-level support.
The lack of access to client or third-party data is the primary concern for 39% of French firms, while 36% of UK respondents feel lack of user training will affect their ability in implementing big data strategies.
Lack of access to internal data is the top challenge for 36% of firms in the Netherlands.
According to the Xerox study, just 20% of respondents show high competence in dealing with big data, while 31% are lagging behind in their approaches.
55% of respondents expect the implementation of big data solutions to transform businesses via closer engagement with customers.
Forrester Consulting carried out the study on behalf of Xerox and surveyed 330 top-level business executives in five countries across Western Europe.