In the mainstream media the 'big data' idea has taken a back seat of late, but talk to the technology visionaries and the picture is very different. This is a theme gathering substantial pace within the think tanks of software companies and corporates with an eye on the scope for analytics to improve performance and profits.
So it's worth noting that the tireless Ivan Teh, CEO of Fusionex (FXI:AIM), continues to preach the big data gospel. Attending a big data round table in Kuala Lumpar recently Teh gave investors an inkling of what to expect from his next UK road trip, describing 'a marked increase' of interest in big data among business movers and shakers.
Fusionex CEO, Ivan Teh
'A year or two ago, only 25% to 30% of the CEOs we talked to were interested in or in the midst of implementing big data analytics projects,' he spelled out. 'Now the number has doubled to 60%.' True, he's talking his own book to an extent, but importantly, he is not alone. A further endorsement comes from the latest Accenture Analytics study, which concludes that 59% of 'high performer' firms invest 'more than one-quarter of their total technology expenditure in analytics versus 17% of low performers,' or in other words, the world's most successful businesses and organisations are ahead of the big data analytics curve (see graphic). No surprise there.
'We have long argued that Fusionex is a superb investment play in the secular big data trend,' points out Panmure's respected technology analyst George O'Connor.
We at Shares have long agreed, and the company has been one of our Plays of the Week since 27 November 2014, when we flagged the company and its stock at 300p. The share price has bobbed and weaved like a seasoned boxer since, hitting highs of 415p, although the stock today sits at 330p, off 2.5p today.
That progression, or relative lack of it puzzles us. It might be a case of this Malaysian business being tarred with the Chinese brush, with south-east Asian economies seemingly under pressure right now, and let's face it, Chinese firms to join AIM have hardly covered themselves in glory to date.
We think the market is making a fundamental error of judgement if this is the prevailing view of Fusionex. At the heart of a structurally super-growth space and, let's not forget, one of the world's only big data specialists to actually turn a profit and generate cash, we reckon Teh's next UK stopover, probably sometime in September or October, could refocus the market's mind on this impressive growth company.
