Understanding Big Data

Abstract

Big data is at the center of a rapidly developing collection of inter-related technologies in a new Age of Digital Transformation, which is changing our world on a scale that has the potential of surpassing that of the Industrial Revolution. It is now close to impossible for anyone to not use and produce big data daily, but too few have a clear understanding of this new technology. While the objective of tradi- tional data processing has typically been to report “what has happened,” the objective of big data pro- cessing is to create new knowledge from which activities can be improved, and in many cases auto- mated. In order for organizations to participate and benefit more fully from the Age of Digital Trans- formation it is necessary to first understand big data. This case study compares big data with tradi- tional data processing, showing how it is an exponential expansion of traditional information technol- ogy that brings it close to the human mind in its ability to process vast amounts of a variety of data in a heuristic process to discover insights from which decisions can then be made and actions taken, re- sulting in the creation of enormous new value.