The Reality for Smart Businesses is Big Data

The conversation of Big Data is a recent phenomenon among business leaders, stakeholders and decision makers. Over the last couple of years we have seen Big Data transition from a buzzword, to hype, to reality. It was a buzzword when people still didn't understand what it meant. It was merely hype when people didn't understand how to use it. It has become reality because people now understand the value of it.

Data => Agent of Change

It is widely said that big data is the backbone of the digital economy; but it is more than that. We may soon see that it becomes the backbone of the entire economy, as it is the fuel for innovation and positive change for businesses of all industries. Or at least, it can be.

For most of our history, the challenge when it came to data was creating and collecting enough of it. Because 90% of the world's data has been created within the last two years, there is certainly no lack of data today. Instead the challenge we have today, and will continue to have into the foreseeable future is making sense of the data.

Raw data alone is just that…data. It means nothing to most people. But if we can turn data into dynamic knowledge, it can be leveraged to develop and improve products and services, advance business models and create superior working processes. Therefore, the economic and business winners will be those that develop and implement a contemporary data strategy.

This will require companies to move away from traditional analysis, to predictive analysis. It also means moving away from fixed and static outlooks to a more dynamic and forward-thinking insight. This will require an investment by companies. They can either create an analysis division, requiring hiring data scientists, engineers and analysts. Because this is quite costly, companies may find it more cost-effective to hire outside services that specialize in data analysis and solutions. This option is both more economical and yields more rapid and even better results, as it is what they solely specialize in.

The only thing to look out for when exploring these third party options is a one-size-fits-all tools. The rise in tools as a service, in this case tools providing data solutions and data analytics, have become popular, due to their low price. The saying, "You get what you pay for" holds true in this case. Read this article to learn why.