Data Streaming Delivers 2-5x ROI for 79% of Indian Businesses, According to New Confluent Report

Data streaming is now the backbone for the most critical areas of a business—from personalised customer experiences to real-time business operations. The Confluent, Inc. 2023 Data Streaming Report: Moving Up the Maturity Curve dives into data streaming’s rise as a requirement for business success.

Based on a survey of 2,250 IT leaders, including 300 in India, using data streaming from across seven countries and representing midsize to large enterprises across all major industries, the report makes clear that the technology is a must-have for running a more efficient, responsive, and ultimately more competitive business in this digital-first era.

Rubal Sahni, the Area VP and Country Manager for Confluent in India, said, “In today’s dynamic business landscape, the most successful organisations are those that can swiftly convert data into actionable insights. According to our report, data streaming is widely adopted across businesses in India, delivering significant ROIs, and enabling a multitude of use cases that enhance security, and agility, and exceed customer expectations. The impact of data streaming is evident and we are excited to continue this momentum in India.”

Key India Findings from the 2023 Data Streaming Report

The report is centered around the Data Streaming Maturity Curve, which maps out organisations’ adoption journey—from pre-production activity happening at Level 1 to data streaming as a strategic enabler for all areas of an enterprise at Level 5. The survey data found that the more a company invests in data streaming, the more benefits and returns they realise. The report also identifies the most common challenges alongside expert advice on how to overcome these hurdles no matter where an organisation is on its data streaming journey.

Key findings include: 
Data Streaming Drives Business Value and Strong ROI
78% of IT leaders report their organisations are seeing significant or emerging benefits from data streaming when it comes to faster strategic decision making and 79% report improved customer acquisition and retention.
Additionally, 80% of organisations reported a faster product/service time-to-market

Data Streaming Is a Top Priority for IT Investments
95% of respondents say investments in data streaming are important, with 62% citing it as a top strategic priority for IT investments overall.
71% of IT leaders say they are using data streaming to power critical applications—and 61% cite that five or more of their organisation’s critical systems are reliant on the technology.
75% of businesses will increase their investment in data streaming as it’s critical to business competitiveness.

Data Streaming’s Biggest Challenges: Silos and Skill Gaps
72% of IT leaders cite that fragmented projects and uncoordinated teams and budgets can be a challenge or a major hurdle to advancing data streaming, and 78% cite a lack of relevant skills, expertise, and experience.
95% of respondents say training and recruitment to bolster skills is a high or medium priority as they continue to invest in data streaming over the next 12 months

Suresh Khemka, Head of Engineering, Apna, said, “Our hiring platform is growing rapidly, at a speed monolithic architecture cannot keep up. To meet our growing demand, we made the move to data streaming. At first, we were apprehensive about the learning curve of new technology and the time it would take to stand it up and manage it. Choosing a managed service helped us overcome these growing pains, and actually increased the efficiency and productivity of our developers. Now we are shipping products two times faster.”