Let’s assume that you’ve broken over the hype surrounding Big Data and are ready to dive in… How do you get started?

The initial assumption warrants a few tomes at the very least 😉 but for the sake of argument – and blog post brevity – we’ll keep it an assumption for the time being ( I’ll try to come back with a more thorough treatment in a future post).

I would also go one step further and adamantly support that this shouldn’t be a question about BIG data, but rather a question about DATA. I’m a firm believer that DATA must be a key component in any endeavor, among other reasons for the potential clarity & independent view that they can provide.

So once you take the DATA plunge where do you go next?

I would suggest that you need 2 key pillars – necessary in any technology adoption strategy:

1. A framework that will allow you to map key stakeholders & their relationships as well as identify the use cases which make sense for you ( making sense should be justified by a cost / value equation! )
2. A method to evaluate available solutions – in most cases the options might seem daunting at first

The good people at the Boston Consulting Group have just released an interesting report discussing just that. It’s called “Enabling_Big_Data_Building_Capabilities_Matter“.

Coming back to the aforementioned pillars they propose the following as far as an overall framework

and discuss the – more esoteric – technology evaluations components & dimensions using the mapping found below

There’s also a wealth of information , including specific applications opportunities across several industries (e.g. Retail Energy, Media & Advertising,  Retail, Financial Services etc) at their Big Data & beyond site.

Are you still trying to figure out the hype behind BIG Data? Or have you already actively using DATA to enhance & improve your daily work?