The Analytics Revolution

CHAPTER 2 More Data . . . More Data . . . Big Data!

This chapter discusses what readers need to know about the important trend of big data if their organizations are to leverage big data to support operational analytics. As the years pass, organizations have always collected more and more data. However, the pace has accelerated in recent years. It's not just that data sources are getting bigger either. Often today, data also comes in new formats and contains information that requires different analysis methods. Big data is the label that has been applied to this trend that leads to the challenges of more data, from more sources, in different formats.

An organization must keep in perspective a number of concepts when starting to consider big data and how it will affect the organization's analytics processes. This chapter discusses a variety of the hype points surrounding big data that organizations sometimes get caught up in and some ways to prepare for big data and keep it in perspective. Big data isn't as scary as it first may seem. Understanding how big data fits into the picture is necessary in order to incorporate it successfully into operational analytics.

Cutting through the Hype

There is no doubt that a massive amount of hype has been built around big data. Organizations must cut through that hype and focus on what is really important. This section covers several concepts that help to do that. The content in this section is not meant in any way to diminish the importance ...