by Angela Guess
An interview with Roger Magoulas, director of market research at O’Reilly reveals how the financial sector stands to profit from Big Data. When asked how Big Data applies to the financial world, Magoulas responded, “There are two flavors of it. One is analyzing things like your investments, econometrics, trading activity, and longer-term data analysis. That’s clearly part and parcel of the finance business, and people in the space already have great familiarity with this side of data. The second flavor is the integrated approach to data in all facets of how organizations do business. This involves understanding customers, understanding competitors, understanding behavior, taking advantage of the world of sensors, and using a computational and quantitative mindset to make sense of a very confusing world.”
Asked if there is a disconnect between the financial sector and terms like Big Data, Magoulas answered, “Everyone is struggling with the semantics, so finance isn’t worse off than others. They’re actually making an effort to understand it. Adding to the semantic confusion, the terms “data science” and “big data” are sometimes co-opted by organizations trying to show how they embody these attributes. That’s fine, but the finance ecosystem has a responsibility to learn as much as it can about these areas. The best way to do that is directly from the data science practitioners: see the tools data scientists use and how they approach their work. That firsthand experience will help finance experts inform their investment strategies and see where the data space is heading.”
photo credit: Alex E. Proimos
