by Angela Guess
Loraine Lawson of ITBusinessEdge recently noted that discussions about Big Data are shifting away from the technical issues involved toward the “strategic value” of Big Data and “how organizations can really put it to work.” Lawson states that Big Data is more or less useless without quality people ” to translate Big Data stores into usable, relevant information.”
Lawson writes, “Maybe it’s my past as a PR person, but before processes, before business cases, I think it’s important to choose the right people for any initiative, and Big Data is no exception. In some ways, Big Data will be easy to sell — it’s hip, it’s hyped, it’s happening now. But the realities of Big Data — the data discipline it will require, the shift in how we think about data — these things won’t come so easy.”
She continues, ” That’s why the CIO is one of the key people who needs to be on board with Big Data. And to do that, CIOs really need to rethink their role. I know CIOs have been told this before, but insights from Big Data tend to come differently than other data. In the past, you formulated a question, built a query and checked the data. Big Data requires a bit more of an open-minded process than that. You’re not going to look for specific answers, so much as you’re going to hunt for insights.”
