Enterprise backup, recovery, data management and cloud firm Commvault has witnessed a 6% growth in its South African business as a result of the increased use of data.

This is according to the company’s most recent financial results and confirms the South Africa market as second only to Israel in terms of profit share for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

At Commvault’s African ‘Connections Live’ customer and partner event in Johannesburg recently, Nigel Williams, Senior Director for Marketing in EMEA, said the company expects further growth leading up to 2020.

“Many people think consumer data will outpace business data and it is not going to do so. This is because business has got such a great need for data and by 2025, according to an IDC data study, sixty percent of total data will be enterprise. It is not only going to be at the heart of our business, it will be changing faster and becoming more interactive.”

Williams added, “Data is at the centre of business value. If you look at the automotive industry and how much data there is there now compared to a few years ago it is quite extraordinary. It is the same for the aviation industry. The whole idea of customer experience is data centric. It is an expanding in its economic contribution if you look at AI, data, algorithms, machine learning and robotics and you put them all together.”

In its FutureScape report on IT industry predictions for 2018 onwards, the IDC claims that by 2020, 90% of large enterprises will generate revenue from data-as-a-service.

“Enterprises' ability to create, derive, and manage high-value data for their own use – and gain financial leverage by packaging some of that data for the marketplace – will quickly become an important metric in enterprise valuations. Similarly, relevant and high-value data will be a key component determining an enterprise's value and power in the world of digital developers and ecosystems. Establishing a critical mass of external data feeds will also be a critical ingredient for any AI-based digital services and solutions.” details the IDC.

Williams believes the way we are trading is already changing because of data.

“A lot of the trading is now based on Blockchain, APIs and those technologies are absolutely changing the game. I think for me it's that shift between the digital world and the visible world that is most exciting and frightening because it is becoming blurred. The role of data in business is absolutely phenomenal.”

African ‘Connections Live’ customer and partner event formed part of the company’s greater focus on growth markets.

Wael Mustafa, Area Vice President for MESAT Commvault says the event is an opportunity to listen to input from customers and partners in continent where the company achieved a fifty two percent increase in the volume of requests for quotations by the end of July compared to the month before