If there is a topic as hyped in information technology circles today as “cloud computing,” it’s “big data.” But so far implementation of data strategies designed to capitalize on the burgeoning amounts of data across disparate data bases worldwide is lacking.
So reports SAS, which is a global leader in provide data analytics.
Only 12 percent of the 339 data management “professionals” who participated in the “Big Data” survey sponsored by SAS say their companies have a big data strategy.
One major reason appears to be lack of who “owns the issue. There’s no consensus about who within organizations is responsible for tackling the project.
The survey was based on this definition of what big data is:
“Massive amounts of data collected over time that are difficult to analyze and handle using common database management tools. Big data may include business transactions, photos, surveillance videos and activity logs as well as unstructured text posted on the Web, such as blogs and social media.”
Reflecting the uncertainty about how to exploit big data, a mere 14 percent of those surveyed expect to tackle big data projects in 2014 while another 19 percent just say no to the idea.
Concerns include:
- Data quality
- Accuracy
- Accessing the right information
- Reconciling disparate data
- Timeliness
- Compliance
- Security
- A company’s “organizational view” of the information
Meanwhile, 21 percent say they don’t know enough about what big data is.
Another 15 percent don’t understand the benefits.
Of IT pros who want to tackle big data, 9 percent say they lack internal support.
Another 9 percent say their firm’s technology infrastructure “lacks data quality” needed to harnes big data and turn it into actionable information.
[SAS ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of SAS stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]
