Big Data Revolution

CHAPTER 16: A METHODOLOGY FOR APPLYING BIG DATA PATTERNS

INTRODUCTION

THE DATA ERA introduces a significant cultural change to every organization and individual: It’s a shift from intuition-based decision-making to fact-based. While this seems simple, it is much harder in practice, as it causes a company or individual to unlearn their traditional approach. Intuition was sufficient and necessary, when data was limited. But, in a data-rich environment, there is no excuse for anything but thoughtful decision making, grounded in data.

Chapter 2 uncovered how this change in approach is transforming medicine. With the advent of the Data era, physicians are forced to rethink their opinion-based approach and adopt a data-based approach. This will likely lead to one of two outcomes:

1. Doctors will make the adjustment, fully incorporating new sources of data in their decision-making. This will improve the quality and cost of medical care, while requiring physicians to expand their skills beyond just the practice of medicine.
2. Doctors will become irrelevant, in many cases, replaced by intelligent machines and monitoring which will make treatment decisions based on the flow of data and enable self-management of many medical disorders.

The shift to data-based decision-making is a cultural change. A methodology rooted in a fact-based approach becomes a helpful tool for driving that cultural change.

THE METHOD

The method for applying big data patterns to decision-making consists of seven steps. ...