How Big Data Is Different
FA L L 2 0 1 2
V O L . 5 4 N O. 1
Thomas H. Davenport, Paul Barth and Randy Bean
How ‘Big Data’ Is Different
Please note that gray areas reflect artwork that has been intentionally removed. The substantive content of the article appears as originally published.
REPRINT NUMBER 54104
W I N N I N G W I T H D AT A : E S S AY
How ‘Big Data’ Is Different
These days, lots of people in business are talking about “big data.” But how do the potential insights from big data differ from what managers generate from traditional analytics?
BY THOMAS H. DAVENPORT, PAUL BARTH AND RANDY BEAN
THESE DAYS, MANY PEOPLE in the information technology world and in corporate boardrooms are talking about “big data.” Many believe that, for companies that get it right, big data will be able to unleash new organizational capabilities and value. But what does the term “big data” actually entail, and how will the insights it yields differ from what managers might generate from traditional analytics?
There is no question that organizations are swimming in an expanding sea of data that is either too voluminous or too unstructured to be managed and analyzed through traditional means.
Among its burgeoning sources are the clickstream data from the Web, social media content (tweets, blogs, Facebook wall postings, etc.) and video data from retail and other settings and from video entertainment. But big data also encompasses everything from call center voice data to genomic and proteomic data from biological research and medicine. Every day, Google alone processes about 24 petabytes (or 24,000 terabytes) of data. Yet very little of the information is formatted in the traditional rows and columns of conventional databases.
Many IT vendors and solutions providers use the term “big data” as a buzzword for smarter,
THE LEADING
QUESTION
How can companies capitalize on insights from
“big data”?
FINDINGS
Monitor the flow, rather than a fixed supply, of data.
Work with data scientists rather than data
V O L . 5 4 N O. 1
Thomas H. Davenport, Paul Barth and Randy Bean
How ‘Big Data’ Is Different
Please note that gray areas reflect artwork that has been intentionally removed. The substantive content of the article appears as originally published.
REPRINT NUMBER 54104
W I N N I N G W I T H D AT A : E S S AY
How ‘Big Data’ Is Different
These days, lots of people in business are talking about “big data.” But how do the potential insights from big data differ from what managers generate from traditional analytics?
BY THOMAS H. DAVENPORT, PAUL BARTH AND RANDY BEAN
THESE DAYS, MANY PEOPLE in the information technology world and in corporate boardrooms are talking about “big data.” Many believe that, for companies that get it right, big data will be able to unleash new organizational capabilities and value. But what does the term “big data” actually entail, and how will the insights it yields differ from what managers might generate from traditional analytics?
There is no question that organizations are swimming in an expanding sea of data that is either too voluminous or too unstructured to be managed and analyzed through traditional means.
Among its burgeoning sources are the clickstream data from the Web, social media content (tweets, blogs, Facebook wall postings, etc.) and video data from retail and other settings and from video entertainment. But big data also encompasses everything from call center voice data to genomic and proteomic data from biological research and medicine. Every day, Google alone processes about 24 petabytes (or 24,000 terabytes) of data. Yet very little of the information is formatted in the traditional rows and columns of conventional databases.
Many IT vendors and solutions providers use the term “big data” as a buzzword for smarter,
THE LEADING
QUESTION
How can companies capitalize on insights from
“big data”?
FINDINGS
Monitor the flow, rather than a fixed supply, of data.
Work with data scientists rather than data