It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.
Sherlock Holmes
Data is often referred to as the new oil, and for good reason. It is the critical fuel for your business’s new economic engine and your digital strategy.
Most pre-digital incumbents have a data value problem. That is, they struggle to gain business value from all the data, or any of the data, they are collecting. This mass of data has become known as big data, with many companies investing heavily in the infrastructure and skills required to support it. According to Dresner Advisory Services’ 2017 Big Data Analytics Market Study, 53 per cent of global companies reported that they ‘use big data today’, compared with 17 per cent in 2015. Notably, there is still regional variation in the use of big data: North America (55 per cent) narrowly leads the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (53 per cent) in its current levels of big-data analytics adoption. Asia–Pacific respondents report 44 per cent current adoption and are most likely to say they ‘may use big data in the future’. However, according to a 2016 survey by technology research company Gartner, of the companies that had invested in big-data capabilities, only 15 per cent reported a live big-data project. This reflects the lack of capability required to drive value from data. Known as the data value gap (see figure 4.1), this is either your biggest threat or your greatest opportunity.
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
