CEOs unprepared for “big data”

Can someone explain to me what they're referring to by "big data"? They use the term as if it has been commoditised but how is it any different to ordinary data and what is the solution, if it is an issue of such contention? :confused:

I see the SKA and utilities references but they make inferences that this pertains to other large organisations.

The article is frustratingly scarce on detail...
 
Big Data can also refer to the sheer amounts of data needing to be handled. Think of an online store which has been operating for the last few years doing 500 transactions a day. Suddenly their marketing campaign kicks in and they start processing 2000 transactions a day. Now their database are filling up much faster, the servers are taking strain and their whole system becomes slower and slower because it was never meant to handle data like this.

A very silly example but that is how I understand it. Big data is not a defined size but rather referring to the amount of data a particular system might struggle to process and use.
 
Why should CEOs worry about data in the first place? I'd imagine every CEO who knows anything has a capable CIO / IT manager looking after all things information/data related?
 
DJ... said:
Can someone explain to me what they're referring to by "big data"?
Click to expand...
Essentially "big data" is about taking lots of data (e.g. millions of purchase transactions) and finding patterns in it. Like so:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmir...teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/

The main problem is that things get unwieldy very fast: Above a certain number of variables its just not possible to crunch all the combinations with pure computing horsepower.

Basically lots of stats and lots of scaling issues.

DJ... said:
I see the SKA and utilities references but they make inferences that this pertains to other large organisations.
Click to expand...
Its a bit of a weak example. The link is that in both cases you're taking a pile of raw data and try to find usable patterns.

unskinnybob said:
Why should CEOs worry about data in the first place? I'd imagine every CEO who knows anything has a capable CIO / IT manager looking after all things information/data related?
Click to expand...
The idea is to use the understanding derived from the data to lead the organization (hence CEO).
 
Perfect example would be computicket. They just dont seem to understand what peak demand means.
 
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