Forward Thinking

So What’s the Big Deal with Big Data?

Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Posted in: Bob Alcorn | Cloud Computing | Managed IT Services
Keywords: Big Data | Unstructured Data | Cloud Computing

You may have heard the term Big Data. But just how big is Big Data, and what's it all about?

For starters, Big Data is a general term used to describe the enormous amounts of unstructured data a company creates: data that would take too much time and cost too much money to load into a relational database for analysis.  Although Big Data doesn't refer to any specific quantity, the term is often used when speaking about petabytes and exabytes (yeah, that’s a lot of data).

Big Data is often associated with Managed Services and Cloud Computing, because the storage and management of large data sets in real-time requires a stable framework to distribute the work among tens, hundreds or even thousands of secure computers and centers that can manage those computers.   (You know, that stuff that nFrame does )

But Big Data isn’t just about big data.  It’s also big for business.  According to a recent article from Forbes, Big Data is currently a $5 billion market.  And the forecast is for the Big Data market to grow to $50 billion, within five years.   Some big growth, for sure.  That said, what’s the business behind Big Data, and where’s the ROI?

Today, it’s generally accepted that unstructured (aka unused) data, accounts for at least 80% of an organization’s enterprise systems.  If left unmanaged, the sheer volume of unstructured data that’s generated each year within an enterprise can be costly in terms of servers, storage, facilities and resources.  Unmanaged data can also pose a serious liability if information cannot be located in a proven, timely, trustworthy manner.

Moreover, the primary goal for leveraging Big Data is to discover better ways to increase a company’s overall performance.   After all, knowledge is power.  With the right knowledge - companies can do more, be more, make more – for less time, hassles and costs.

As Big Data changes the game for virtually all industries, it will tilt the playing field, favoring some over others.  Indeed, new academic research suggests that companies using Big Data to guide their decisions are more productive and have higher returns on equity than competitors that do not.

That said, leveraging Big Data isn’t just for big companies: small and midsize companies can leverage Big Data, as well.  In fact, maybe even better and with more of an impact to the revenue growth, costs-saving and the proverbial bottom-line.

If you’d like to learn more about nFrame’s Big Data capabilities, use the form in the upper right hand corner of this page to contact one of our solutions experts.