GIGO is very old news and is highlighted in IDC’s white paper which stressed that the “outcome of any big data analytics project, however, is only as good as the quality of the data being used.” The January 2015 white paper entitled “Big Data, Bad Data, Good Data: The Link Between Information Governance and Big Data Outcomes” was sponsored by IBM and focused at its StoredIQ solution. Here are some of the examples of leveraging Big Data analytics cited in the white paper:
- Retailers are leveraging big data analytics to gain a deeper understanding of customer preferences, segment customers in new ways, and target buyers with tailored and personalized offers that increase conversion rates and order size.
- Manufacturers are using big data analytics to optimize their supply chains, anticipate product problems and warranty issues, and improve the performance of enterprise assets and equipment.
- Energy companies and utilities are leveraging big data to improve their demand forecasts, build smarter grids, reduce outages, and optimize production.
- Healthcare organizations are turning to big data to optimize care and improve patient outcomes.
- Research organizations are using big data analytics to accelerate the pace of medical and scientific research.
- Government agencies are exploiting big data for intelligence, national security, and mission support and planning.
- Financial services organizations are using big data to detect and prevent fraud.
However much not all data is great particularly reliable if it is included in the “enterprise’s unstructured information” including:
…the documents, images, rich media, and other content assets that reside in the organization’s enterprise content management, collaboration, and email systems; on network drives and users’ computers; and in enterprise application document stores whether on-premise or in the cloud.
Without question understanding Big Data is critical for all businesses and governments.