Every now and then something comes along that has the potential to change the face of business as we know it. Currently big data is being touted as that thing, and CIOs everywhere need to get a grip on what it is and how it can benefit their company.

1. Big Data:
Welcome to the future
A cut-out-and-keep guide for CIOs
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2. Big Data
explained
Big data is about digital content
and the information surrounding
its consumption. It’s also about the
capture and analysis of this data.
Companies that aren’t using big
data architecture and analytical
tools won’t be able to compete
with those that are ready and able
to handle large, complex, multi-
structured data sets.
THE PRODUCTION OF BIG
DATA IS EVER INCREASING.
PB
GB
A GIGABYTE OF STORED
CONTENT CAN GENERATE
MORE THAN A PETABYTE
OF RELATED DATA.
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3. Big Data
explained
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4. Big Data
explained
Pat Gelsinger, Bill Cook,
President and Chief Operating President,
Officer, EMC Information EMC Greenplum
Infrastructure Products
Data is growing faster than Moore’s Law, and we
need a different architectural approach since a
scale-up approach will be fundamentally inadequate
to keep up with exploding datasets.
By 2020, the quantity of electronically stored data will reach 35
trillion gigabytes, a forty-four-fold increase from 2009. That’s
enough data to fill a stack of DVDs reaching from the Earth to the
moon and back — about 240,000 miles each way.
Big data is about putting all that information to work.
Scale-out architecture is essential. We need one that scales
to mammoth size with ease of capacity expansion without
administrative requirements and linear performance and scale
requirements as you go forward.
We see that big data presents big opportunities, transforming
what you do and delivering far more value, results and business
impact to the companies that you serve.
Big data allows you to innovate beyond what you can
currently comprehend to solve problems and invent products
or services that you’ve never thought of before!
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5. Big Data
explained
The companies prepared to
build for the future are making
big data work for them. This, in
turn, helps improve customer
relations, reduce costs,
accelerate and synchronise
delivery, and enhance decision
making.
Companies that leverage big
data for business insights
have an advantage over their
unprepared rivals. For example,
by analysing the big data
produced by social networks,
blogs and comments,
businesses can gain real-time
brand perception.
Do you want your
enterprise to follow the
herd, or do you want to
define the way business is
done in your industry?
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6. Big Data
explained
International publisher John Wiley
and Sons deployed a big data
strategy in eight global locations to
manage big data growth.
It reduced the power usage in its
data centre by over 60 per cent,
while tripling the number of virtual
severs it used.
Global news agency Associated Press
implemented a big data strategy to
help deal with the demands of its high-
definition video and production archive
workflows.
Its solution provides 99 per cent reliability,
compared to its old model which failed
10-15 per cent of the time.
Jaguar Land Rover adopted a big
data plan to help drive its simulation
operations.
It reduced complexity and costs
by consolidating its workflow,
simplifying its IT infrastructure
while also increasing capacity and
performance.
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7. Big Data
explained
If you want to lead your company into the future, you
need to incorporate a strategy that accommodates
and handles big data’s three dimensions.
V olume:
Data sets are expanding constantly. A strategic approach to
big data takes into account ways to store and manage the
huge volumes of data that are being generated.
V ariety:
Big data comes in many forms. Analysing multi-
structured data can yield important insights that can
help direct a business strategy.
elocity:
V The speed at which data
is analysed is everything,
especially when working
in a time sensitive
business environment.
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8. Big Data
explained
Using big data, CIOs
are empowered to lead
companies which demand
cost-efficient business
and IT strategies.
Associated Press is making savings of up to 45 per cent
per terabyte of high-definition video content, compared to
its old tape based archive system.
Creative agency Neoscape significantly reduced its
overheads by simplifying its server architecture and
reducing the amount of hardware needed.
CIOs need to own the future of business information.
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9. Big Data
explained
But there are challenges...
CIOs who adopt a big data strategy will have
to help cultivate a new generation of data
scientists to take advantage of it.
Currently there’s a dearth in that field and 63
per cent of data scientists, working on big
data projects today, believe the shortage will
continue into the foreseeable future.
However, CIOs utilising a big data strategy
have the opportunity to empower employees
across the board. Allowing the people
closest to the data to use their own analytical
tools, dashboards and other information
capturing resources will help change
business culture and improve productivity.
Extracting value from big data gives CIOs
a golden opportunity to drive growth for
their companies.
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