by Angela Guess
Samuel Greengard of Baseline Magazine recently discussed the struggle that businesses are facing in managing Big Data. He writes, “Over the last few years, an avalanche of data—both structured and unstructured—has pushed organizations to the breaking point. CIOs and other IT executives recognize that their ability to achieve success is now heavily dependent on tapping into big data and putting it to full use. The question that confounds many executives is how best to approach the task. A recently released Capgemini study, The Deciding Factor: Big Data & Decision Making, revealed that 90 percent of business leaders now view big data in the same critical category as land, labor and capital.”
He continues, “More than two-thirds of North American executives (168 of the survey’s 600 global respondents) indicated that their organizations must address big data issues in order to improve decision making. At present, 44 percent say that the volume of data and inability to manage it effectively has slowed decision making. It’s no small challenge. ‘There are a large number of disruptive technologies impacting organizations,’ says Scott Schlesinger, vice president and head of business information management for North America Capgemini. ‘Big data doesn’t only involve dealing with large volumes of data; it’s about handling the sum of the data.’ Remarkably, 85 percent of respondents indicated that the growing volume of data isn’t the primary obstacle. Rather, it’s being able to analyze and act on it in real time.”
