According to “The Business Impact of Big Data,” a global survey of 543 C-level executives and IT decision makers, the data deluge is more than hype. In fact, the majority of respondents, 56 percent, report being overwhelmed by the amount of data in the workplace. Many employees feel constantly distracted by multiple streams of information – this is especially true of C-level executives.
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Read: “The Business Impact of Big Data”
Despite feeling overwhelmed, executives have an insatiable desire for more data. Companies appear to be addicted. The majority of respondents believe information will fundamentally change their business. And yet today, only a minority views their company data as a strategic differentiator. Most, instead, see it as a consequence of doing business.
Avanade is helping customers meet the challenges of this influx of data in their organizations by delivering solutions in the areas of customer relationship management, security, data analytics and data management.
It’s clear many companies lack the basic measures to manage big data, but see huge potential benefits if they can learn to leverage it effectively. Businesses must employ a holistic approach to data management – a new approach for many – and one that focuses on the following stages in the data lifecycle:
- Identify: The first step to creating business value is to prepare the enterprise to be able to quickly accommodate new data sources, then to understand where the data is coming from, who is creating it and where the content lives.
- Filter: The second step is to determine what information is important and what information does not matter and provide tools and data management policies that enable staff to effectively filter information for relevance quickly.
- Distribute: Because different information is intended for different levels, locations and business units, companies must utilize a distribution mechanism that is both automated and intelligent.
- Apply: Overall, businesses must evolve from data analysis to insight to prediction. Applying the right data in the right case is crucial to this evolution.
Underpinning all of the steps of the data lifecycle is search.
Search is a critical foundation to tackle the big data problem and companies must introduce comprehensive tools that allow employees to find the right real-time data from across structured and unstructured sources.
Create a Data Culture: Companies must develop a “data culture” where executives, employees and strategic partners are active participants in managing a meaningful data lifecycle. Tomorrow’s successful companies will be equipped to harness new sources of information and take responsibility over accurate data creation and maintenance. This will enable businesses to turn data from information into business insights.