The business of data is an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, sponsored by NTT communications. The EIU bears sole responsibility for the content of this paper. The findings do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor. The paper draws on two main sources for its research and findings: a survey of 476 senior executives worldwide (approximately 50% C-level executives). Respondents are located in North America (31%), Europe (30%), Asia-Pacific (29%), Latin America (5%) and the Middle East (4%). More than 60% of survey respondents are employed by companies with more than US$1bn in annual revenue; 37% have revenue between 500 million dollars and 1 billion dollars.