The DataBoost Nexus #8
Big Data Implementation
Simply having access to big data repositories is meaningless in the absence of a worthwhile data management strategy. Your enterprise can import huge volumes of information at will, but without an achievable goal, and without the tools to analyze and organize that information, no benefit is gained.
Selecting a Data Strategy
The first step is laying out a tenable data strategy, and this generally revolves around shoring up a weakness or deficit in your organization. Has your enterprise historically had trouble making accurate sales forecasts? Does your customer support staff require more comprehensive information on client order history? Do you regularly encounter shipping or distribution problems that lead to lost sales and unhappy customers?
Whatever the weakness, a properly implemented data strategy can be extremely helpful in ironing the kinks out of your business process.
Big Data: Best Practices
This IBM-sponsored article offers a wealth of information on implementing big data solutions, and provides an excellent starting point for enterprises embarking on a big data strategy:
http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/blog/10-big-data-implementation-best-practices
Perhaps the most important thing to remember from this list is the second point – implementing your big data solution should always be seen as a series of business decisions, and should not be hamstrung by your IT department.
IT departments can always be expanded and improved, and should never drive your core business decisions.
Big Data: Management
To drive the previous point home, the following article from TechTarget.com outlines a host of real-world big data projects that led to revolutionary improvements for several notable enterprises:
Had the businesses in this article let their IT departments determine which, if any, big data strategies were tenable, it is unlikely that the projects would have been so successful.
Big Data: Consulting Firms
To help implement your big data strategy, acquiring assistance from an outside agency that has already successfully managed a project similar to yours is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to ensure the success of your project.
Next week, we will discuss how to go about selecting an agency that can help you determine and implement a big data strategy.
