SENSORY OVERLOAD: HOW THE INCREDIBLE DATA EXPLOSION IMPACTS YOUR ORGANIZATION

SENS ORY OVERLOAD HOW THE INCREDIBLE DATA EXPLOSION Impacts Your Organization Is your business equipped to manage This explosion of data creation is known as Big Data, and the incredible amount of data it collects leveraging that data to derive and produces? If your organization is like most, the answer is probably no. In fact, only one-third of data professionals are confident that their company can make business insights is one of the hottest topics in technology. Below, we explore the extent of the Big Data explosion, its impact on the marketplace, and why you should care. decisions based on new data. Just How Big Is Big Data? Never before in the history of business have companies had so much available data surging through their servers and ready at their fingertips. TOTAL DATA STORED BY GLOBAL BUSINESSES IN 2010: | This is roughly equivalent to | EXABYTES 367 BILLION TREES worth of printedpaper. EVERY WORD EVER SPOKEN by human beings put into digital text would total just EXABYTES A FULL 2 EXABYTES SHORT of what businesses generated that year alone. Big Data and the Competitive Edge Difficult as it may well be, effectively managing Big Data can help your company generate more money than its competitors. McKinsey finds that Big Data leaders (e.g., companies that effectively use their Big Data to guide decision-making) beat out competitors by an average of nearly 8 CAGR percentage points in the markets examined: 24% Other Competitors BIG Data Leader 12% 6% 9% 5% 116 5% 14% 9% 9% 8% -19% Grocery Online Retail Big Box Retail Casino Credit Cards Insurance HOW DO COMPANIES ACHIEVE THESE KINDS OF RESULTS? There are practically unlimited ways that a company could use Big Data to its benefit. Target Walmart AMAZON.COM Uses Big Data to stock its branch locations with customer product preferences. Uses Big Data to reduce theft of Uses Big Data to send pregnant women specialized catalogs for baby supplies. inventory from its warehouses. THE SHORTAGE OF DATA EXPERTISE In acknowledgment of the importance of managing Big Data, the job market for data scientists has exploded, despite the rough economic climate of the past several years. Percentage of Job Listings Matching the Term “Data Scientist" .002 .001 오오 00 92 . January 2006 January 2007 January 2008 January 2009 January 2010 January 2011 In fact, the current demand is so great that 63% of surveyed data scientists say demand has now outpaced available talent. 5 STEPS TO HARNESSING BIG DATA AT YOUR ORGANIZATION 1 Inventory your data assets: First, take stock of all the data available to your business. This assessment should include proprietary data, as well as public and/or purchased data. 2 Identify potential value creation opportunities: Examine every department and determine how your inventory of data can help you provide new insights. 3 Build up internal capabilities to create a data-driven organization: You will need the right team members and processes in place to begin moving your organization into a data-driven framework. A Develop an enterprise information strategy to implement technology: There should be agreement and participation from all departments on an overarching enterprise strategy. 5 Address policy issues: As more data is used around your organization, you will need to establish security and privacy policies to protect customers, employees, and other stakeholders. What This Means For Your Business: Your company is generating massive amounts of data that could help you gain a competitive edge. While effectively leveraging Big Data is a challenging undertaking, those companies that take a leadership role can expect to uncover innovative opportunities that drive strong growth. SOURCES: BERKLEY.EDU, MCKINSEY.COM, GIGAOM.COM, ROYAL.PINGDOM.COM, DATAZTAX.COM, MARKETAIRE.COM, DOMO INDEED.COM, BLOG.HUBSPOT.COM ww