Big Data’s Big Daddy

The question reminds me of the old joke about the bear in the woods. Of course big data is going to get bigger. Today, and with apologies to Sting, “every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take” seemingly produces data. Multiply the moves you make and the claims you stake by the billions of other people around the world and suddenly you’re talking really big data.

You might say Big Data has many Big Daddies, all of whom are prolific.

Wasn’t it just a nanosecond ago (in relative terms) that analysts everywhere were whining that if they only had more data, they could solve all manner of complex operational problems that were heretofore intractable? Now those same analysts are drowning in data and struggling to keep their heads above the data deluge.

It turns out that irony really is a dish best served with cold, hard facts. Just go easy on the side order.

Today, the analytics community is basically scratching the surface in terms of turning the deluge of data into meaningful decision-making insight on a widespread, corporate-world scale. The sheer volume of available data is imposing enough, but then the data has to be properly mined, cleaned, analyzed and presented to decision-makers or it’s going right back on the scrap heap along with all the other promising ideas that never garnered C-level buy-in.

That, in a nutshell, is the theme of several articles in this issue of Analytics magazine. For example, in his cover story on the potential of big data analytics and the digital oil field to revolutionize the oil and gas industry, Adam Farris notes that “breaking into the oil and gas industry is difficult for analysts” because data scientists and petroleum engineers not only don’t speak the same language, they don’t appear to be from the same planet. Yet the potential for big data analytics to improve energy production and safety while protecting the environment is enormous.

Go figure.