The last decade has seen an explosion in the amount of digital
data being created over the Internet. Companies find themselves with huge
data sets on their hands. And of course this huge mine of data has kick-started
the big data and data analytics consulting, which remains a fast growing service.
However, business users need to critically consider the following
3 key points before approving the spend on big data/ extensive data analytics
projects:
Process maturity: For big data or data analytics to be useful, underlying data sets have to first be
accurate. This means the processes that lead to data generation need to be
mature and functioning properly for some time before a data analyst can help. Where
multiple data sources are involved, thinking about how they will link together/
identify duplicate data/ linked data/ supplementary data would save a lot of
pain later.
Statistics: Crunching big data is not always the answer. Thinking about
breaking the data into representative sets and applying statistical analysis
can serve the same purpose in many instances. If anything, bulldozing through tonnes of data
without understanding data distribution will most probably give you the wrong
results.
Cost-benefit: Sure there can be benefit in milking the data. But
at what cost? With spending for a full-fledged big data project likely to reach 8
figures, has anybody considered the cost-benefit analysis? Can we achieve the
insights without necessarily taking the big data route (e.g. by breaking data
into representative sets, statistical analysis)? Are the processes mature
enough to yield accurate data? Do we have a data map, so that we at least
understand where the data is generated and where it is stored? What is our
in-house technical expertise to deal with the demands of such a project?
Very few data sets would truly qualify as big data if they were
first split or linked sensibly. And for data analytics to work, it is important
that a company first has ample confidence in the accuracy of their data. Simple lessons which if remembered would do a lot of good.
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