INS IDE STORY
Big dreams, small data
Like everyone else involved in the
analytics space, we’ve been yapping endlessly about “big data” in this column. You
all know the story – unfathomable amounts
of data coming in from multiple sources at
incredible speed have analysts everywhere
scrambling to make sense of it all. Let’s face
it, big data is the elephant in the room in any
discussion of analytics, and the elephant is
only going to get bigger (think hybrid data, including video, images, sound, text, etc. from
countless sources and sensors).
But wait, there’s more; there’s a “small”
angle to the “big data” story. Even in the Big
Data Era, many companies do not have the
data they need to make data-based decisions. A start-up, for example, almost certainly does not have the historic data that
an established firm has collected. Even
well-established companies probably lack
the data they need when considering introducing a new product or service or entering
a new market.
With that in mind, Analytics magazine
will launch a new column by Brian Lewis in
the March/April issue that will address the
issue of insufficient data and how to overcome it. The name of the column: “Big Data
Dreams, Small Data Reality.” Chew on that
concept for a minute.
Lewis, chief data scientist and co-founder of Fractal Sciences, provides more details in an introductory column in this issue.
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Of course, big data remains the big
fish in the analytics pond, so we’ll continue
to cover it and all of its ramifications. For
example, in this issue’s Executive Edge
column, Marty Ellingsworth, president of
Verisk Innovative Analytics, discusses the
“promise of big data and bigger analytics”
that “will drive the future” as the corporate
world shifts from a company-centric to a
customer-centric culture.
Meanwhile, INFORMS, publishers of
Analytics magazine and the world’s leading organization for high-end analytics, will
present its inaugural INFORMS Conference on Big Data in San Jose, Calif., June
22-24. The conference will focus on the
business of big data and making the journey from data-rich to