Strategies benefit from big data

While there are some short-term benefits to be had from big data analytics, one of its particular advantages is the ability to change a company's long-term strategy through the continuous collection of data. InformationWeek recently reported that many companies, while aware that analytics could improve high-level decisions, have not yet implemented it.

The source stated that the results of recent surveys, including one by Capgemini, indicate firms have not yet made data a part of their top strategic processes, yet many believe that different data would have changed their decision-making.

Senior tech analyst Daniel Castro told the source that companies are in search of higher-quality data before they alter their top processes. He emphasized that one of the most difficult parts of the big data transition involves selling the project to top management, despite the fact that long-term data and results will not be ready for display at the time of the pitch.

Small Business Trends recently reported on the work of big data field authors Thomas Davenport and Brook Manville. The researchers stated that information-based decisions are significantly better than those made by intuition. They suggested that single-source decisions are far worse than those from data or the wisdom of the crowd.