Have you ever wondered how your favourite coffee shop seemingly knows what you want even before you order? Or how an ecommerce player like Meesho can make online buying a more personalised experience for its customers based on browser history? All that is done with real-time data insights – a technology quietly transforming customer experience.

It starts with a constant flow of information, like a never-ending stream of digital crumbs we leave behind with every click, swipe and purchase. By harnessing this data in real time, businesses can make lightning-fast decisions to deliver personalised, responsive services people often expect.

A recent study published by the MIT Center for Information Systems Research said that top-quartile real-time businesses (RTBs) saw more than 62% higher revenue growth and 97% higher profit margins than the bottom quartile. For context, RTBs respond immediately to opportunities and challenges by automating processes and enabling fast decisions at all levels using trusted and easily accessible data.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, the rise of the RTBs is inevitable. But their success depends on real-time data streaming that can unlock vital information about customers and markets.

Confluent, a data streaming pioneer with solutions built around Apache Kafka, researched the APAC market extensively and found that 64% of the data-streaming adopters have clocked 5x or more ROI after investing in this technology. Interestingly, the ROI has risen to 71% for Indian companies and 69% for Indonesian businesses.

“India is ahead of the curve when it comes to data streaming adoption and skill sets,” Will LaForest, global field CTO of Confluent, told Inc42 in a one-on-one conversation. He recently visited India for Confluent’s Data In Motion Tour 2024, the company’s regional in-person event that is making over 50 stops globally.

The company conducted a 2024 data streaming report globally in partnership with Freeform Dynamics and Radma Research. From this broader study, it has extracted and analysed data specifically from 1,424 IT leaders and senior stakeholders across the APAC region, covering Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore for its Asia-Pacific Data Streaming Advantage report.

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