Tabuleiro, the Brutalit blog

71% in the cloud, 6% in big data: the blind spot of Brazilian firms

In OECD data, 6.1% of Brazilian firms use big data analytics, against 37.7% on the OECD average, while cloud already reaches 70.6% of them in Brazil.

Brutalit newsroom · 4 min read
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In this article

    Brazil adopts cloud and AI at a pace similar to the OECD's, but uses far less big data analytics. The digital outlook the OECD published on November 5, 2026 shows that only 6.1% of Brazilian companies with 10 or more employees use big data analytics, against 37.7% on the OECD average.

    What happened

    The OECD released its 2026 Digital Economy and Society Outlook. The report's central message is that AI adoption is accelerating, but few companies integrate these technologies: only about 12% combine AI, cloud and big data analytics.

    The statistical annex, with 2025 data, puts Brazil side by side with the OECD. The country is ahead in cloud, with 70.6% of companies buying this type of service against 54.6% on the OECD average, and close in AI, at 17.5% against 20.3%. In big data analytics, Brazil stands at 6.1%, against 37.7%.

    The gap appears at every company size. Among large companies, 25.4% analyze big data in Brazil, against 76.1% in the OECD, while among small ones the share is 4.5% against 33.2%.

    Why it matters

    Cloud and AI can be bought, whereas data analytics depends on habit. The numbers suggest that Brazilian companies are moving ahead on the first and falling behind on the second.

    The breakdown by combination makes this clear. In Brazil, 62.5% of companies use cloud only. Another 12.7% use cloud with AI but without big data analytics, and only 4.6% bring all three technologies together. On the OECD average, that full integration reaches 12.2%, and 44.0% among large companies.

    For decision-makers, the takeaway is straightforward. The company pays to store data and pays to automate tasks, but lacks the link that turns records into decisions. The risk is AI running on top of a business that is barely measured.

    What changes for you

    If you are the owner: buying technology does not make a company evidence-driven. It is worth asking how much of the technology budget turns into answers to business questions, and how much becomes mere storage and licenses.

    If you lead sales: the history of proposals, losses and renewals is probably already stored in some system. Having the data is the starting point, and the advantage lies in knowing which customer delivers margin, which channel converts and when a contract is about to go cold.

    If you run operations: automating a process that has not been measured also speeds up its errors. First, find out where the operation loses time and money. Then decide what to hand over to the machine.

    What changes in Brazil

    The Brazilian data weakens the infrastructure excuse. With 70.6% of companies in the cloud, above the OECD average, access to the cloud does not explain the gap. What is missing is analytical capability, and that cannot be solved by buying another system.

    It is also striking that large Brazilian companies use AI at almost the same level as large OECD companies (49.6% against 52.1%), yet analyze big data at a rate three times lower (25.4% against 76.1%). Even companies with scale and budget are skipping steps.

    For those competing here, this opens an opportunity, because in a market where few read their own numbers, the company that does decides sooner and makes fewer mistakes.

    The play

    1. Reverse the order of your next purchase. Before signing up for a new AI tool, list the three business questions it should help answer and check whether the data for them exists and is organized.
    2. Give the numbers an owner. Every metric that reaches the executive team needs an owner, a single source and a scheduled review. Without that, analysis does not become routine.
    3. Measure what you already pay for. Take an inventory of what is in the cloud today and how much of it feeds any decision. Whatever feeds nothing is a cost, not an asset.

    The other side

    The comparison has limits. The Brazilian survey does not cover retail trade or administrative and support service activities, which changes the composition of the sample. The OECD itself notes that, in countries of the European statistical system, the indicator refers to "data analytics" in general, without specifying big data, which may make the comparison with Brazil uneven.

    Moreover, using big data analytics is not the only way to make evidence-based decisions. Many companies manage well with spreadsheets and simple metrics, which do not show up in this statistic. The OECD data measures adoption of a technology and leaves out the quality of decisions.

    Finally, the annex measures adoption and says nothing about results. It does not prove that companies combining all three technologies are more profitable. It shows where Brazil is off the curve, and that alone is reason enough to revisit the order of investments.

    What to watch

    • Whether the share of Brazilian companies using data analytics grows in upcoming updates of the OECD's technology-use database, or whether AI keeps advancing on its own.
    • The gap among large companies: 25.4% use big data analytics in Brazil, against 76.1% on the OECD average.
    • The advance of AI among small Brazilian companies (14.9%), already close to the OECD average for the same size (17.5%).

    Questions to take to the meeting

    If we already have cloud and AI, why worry about data analytics?

    Because cloud stores and AI executes, but analytics tells you what to do. In Brazil, the most common combination after cloud alone is cloud with AI but no big data analytics (12.7% of companies), which may indicate automation without structured analysis of the company's own data.

    What three business questions should our data answer today but doesn't?

    Choose questions tied to revenue, margin and risk, such as which customers are profitable, where the operation loses money and what precedes a cancellation. If no one can answer with a number, the bottleneck lies in analytics, and switching tools will not fix it.

    Who in the company owns the numbers executives use to make decisions?

    It needs to be a named person, with deadlines and a review routine. Data without an owner becomes a report no one reads, however good the technology behind it.

    Sources
    1. AI adoption accelerates across the OECD, but major gaps persist among businesses and generations · OCDE
    2. OECD Digital Economy and Society Outlook 2026 (publicado em 5/11/2026) · OCDE
    3. Statistical Annex: OECD Digital Economy and Society Outlook 2026 (Tabelas 1 e 3) · OCDE
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