To get value out of big data, organisations need to be able to capture, store, analyse, visualise and interpret it. None of which is straightforward.
Government agencies have announced major plans to accelerate big data research and, in 2013, according to a Gartner survey, 64% of companies said they were investing – or intending to invest – in big data technology. But Gartner also pointed out that while companies seem to be persuaded of the merits of big data, many are struggling to get value from it. The problem may be that they tend to focus on the technological aspects of data collection rather than thinking about how it can create value.
But big data is already creating value for some very large companies and some very small ones. Established companies in a number of sectors are using big data to improve their current business practices and services and, at the other end of the spectrum, start-ups are using it to create a whole raft of innovative products and business models.
At the Cambridge Service Alliance, in Cambridge University’s Institute for Manufacturing, we work with a number of leading companies from a range of sectors and see first-hand both the opportunities and challenges associated with big data.
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Image: Big data
Credit: r2hox
Dr Mohamed Zaki is a Research Associate at the Cambridge Service Alliance, Institute for Manufacturing. Big data is one of the Cambridge Service Alliance’s core research themes.
This article first appeared in the IfM Review.
- See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/is-big-data-still-big-news#sthash.1zSRpcCi.dpuf
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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