A recent Bain & Company study, however, should put the question to rest. Early adopters of Big Data analytics have gained a significant lead over the rest of the corporate world. Examining more than 400 large companies, we found that those with the most advanced analytics capabilities are outperforming competitors by wide margins (see Figure 1). The leaders are: Twice as likely to be in the top quartile of financial performance within their industries Five times as likely to make decisions much faster than market peers Three times as likely to execute decisions as intended Twice as likely to use data very frequently when making decisions

http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/big_data_the_organizational_challenge.aspx