Filings buzz: 31% increase in big data mentions since Q2 of 2021

Mentions of big data within the filings of companies in the railway industry were 31% higher in the second quarter of 2022 than in Q2 of 2021.

In total, the frequency of sentences related to big data between July 2021 and June 2022 was 113% higher than in 2016 when GlobalData, from which our data for this article is taken, first began to track the key issues referred to in company filings.

When companies in the railway industry publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years. Big data is one of these topics. Companies that excel and invest in these areas are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

To assess whether big data is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of companies in the railway industry, two measures were calculated. Firstly, we looked at the percentage of companies which have mentioned big data at least once in filings during the past twelve months, this was 62% compared to 43% in 2016. Secondly, we calculated the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to big data.

Of the 10 biggest employers in the railway industry, Yamato was the company which referred to big data the most between July 2021 and June 2022. GlobalData identified nine big data-related sentences in the Japan-based company's filings, 0.5% of all sentences. RCL mentioned big data the second most, the issue was referred to in 0.12% of sentences in the company's filings. Other top employers with high big data mentions included Post Italiane, UPS and UAL.

Across all companies in the railway industry the filing published in the second quarter of 2022 that exhibited the greatest focus on big data came from Uber. Of the document's 1,203 sentences, 11 (0.9%) referred to big data.

This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on big data and how important the issue is considered within the railway industry, but it also has limitations and should be interpreted carefully. For example, a company mentioning big data more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into big data have been successes or failures.

GlobalData also categorises big data mentions by a series of subthemes. Of these subthemes, the most commonly referred to topic in the second quarter of 2022 was 'data analytics', which made up 62% of all big data subtheme mentions by companies in the railway industry.