Do you ever get the feeling that people have no patience anymore? No time to stop, reflect and do things at a more leisurely pace? I do. It seems that the more access we have to information, the more we want and the less tolerance we have to wait patiently for it. And this affects our lives in all manner of ways. From waiting for an analytic report to run on our work computers to growing annoyed at slow movie downloads on our devices at home; from standing in line at your local coffee shop while someone in front [...] Continue Reading…
Is Big Data the Next Big Brother?
With the rise of big data, the notion of the Big Brother is becoming more and more of a theoretical possibility. Thanks to the proliferation of social applications, websites and the use of the Internet, we have opened the door to a new realm of data and companies are finding ways to extract business value from the digital footprint you and I are leaving. While some view this as negative and intrusive, is it really such a bad thing considering it also allows us to get what we want, when we want it and even helps us predict things [...] Continue Reading…
Big Data at the Magic Kingdom – a blessing or a curse?
It used to be the case that retail or telco or utilities were the markets that were getting the IT world abuzz with stories of big data analytics and making money out of large and complex data, markets where customers can be very fickle and operating margins very tight. But an article earlier this year in the New York Times shows that big data and the ability to collect, transact, manage, analyze and act upon it is just as applicable to markets with which we wouldn’t normally associate data. The big data analytics and reporting needs of retail organizations [...] Continue Reading…
Love is in the air – can fast data analytics and BI help Cupid do his work?
In today’s fast-paced world of hectic schedules, it has become increasingly difficult to meet new people, but technology and fast internet speeds have stepped in to fill the gap in the guise of online dating. Now it is easier than ever to meet the one destined to make you laugh and cry - the trend is so widespread that according to YouGov one in five relationships in the UK now start online. In fact, the UK’s Office for National Statistics has added online dating prices to its basket of goods and services from which it calculates the UK rate [...] Continue Reading…
The term “big data” may fade away, the need to analyze and act on data will most certainly not
In my last blog post I discussed the need for more teaching both by our education establishments as well as employers in order to help train a knowledgeable and skilled workforce that has the necessary skills to harvest the big data wave and help organizations monetize information. After all, everywhere you look, we’re being told that big data equals big value, right?
But no sooner did I post my thoughts, I read an interesting article from analyst firm Gartner that would have us believe that the term big data is about to plummet off the “peak of inflated expectations” and [...] Continue Reading…