Article by Mohamed Zaki on the University of Cambridge Research Discussion pages.30 June 2015
People talk about ‘data being the new oil’, a natural resource that companies need to exploit and refine. But is this really true or are we in the realm of hype? Mohamed Zaki explains that, while many companies are already benefiting from big data, it also presents some tough challenges.
"To get value out of big data, organisations need to be able to capture, store, analyse, visualise and interpret it. None of which is straightforward"
Government agencies have announced major plans to accelerate big data research and, in 2013, according to a Gartner survey, 64% of companies said they were investing – or intending to invest – in big data technology. But Gartner also pointed out that while companies seem to be persuaded of the merits of big data, many are struggling to get value from it. The problem may be that they tend to focus on the technological aspects of data collection rather than thinking about how it can create value.