Big Data

Businesses have been collecting and analyzing data since the dawn of time – or at least the dawn of paper. Until recently that data was stored in notebooks, file cabinets, ledgers, receipts, personnel files, production logs, Rolodexes, and cardboard boxes stacked to the ceilings. But as the computer age changed our capacity for storing and analyzing data, our thirst for data grew.

Soon, manufacturers were using sensors to detect operational data in real time; sales departments began purchasing prospect lists to feed their CRMs; HR managers leveraged vast networks of applicants in search of the perfect candidate, and marketers analyzed government data to size and segment their markets and social media to listen in on customer chatter.

Today, “the internet of everything” connects us to data of unimaginable proportions. …Government data, phone listings, news archives, public corporate data, commercial lists, social media, photography and videos, music, confidential internal data, operational data, corporate, organizational and private email. …Data measured in terabytes and petabytes. …Files too large to process on our own internal computers. …Big data.

We’ve put together and infographic on big data, to help leaders better understand its sources, its business potential, and its sheer volume.