Big Data Challenges Organizations

By SamuelGreengard

Over thelast few years, an avalanche of data?both structured and unstructured?haspushed organizations to the breaking point. CIOs and other IT executivesrecognize that their ability to achieve success is now heavily dependent ontapping into big data and putting it to full use. The question that confoundsmany executives is how best to approach the task.

A recentlyreleased Capgemini study, ?TheDeciding Factor: Big Data & Decision Making,? revealed that 90percent of business leaders now view big data in the same critical category asland, labor and capital. More than two-thirds of North American executives (168of the survey’s 600 global respondents) indicated that their organizations mustaddress big data issues in order to improve decision making. At present, 44percent say that the volume of data and inability to manage it effectively hasslowed decision making.

It’s nosmall challenge. "There are a large number of disruptive technologiesimpacting organizations," says Scott Schlesinger, vice president and headof business information management for North America Capgemini. "Big datadoesn’t only involve dealing with large volumes of data; it’s about handling thesum of the data."

Remarkably,85 percent of respondents indicated that the growing volume of data isn’t theprimary obstacle. Rather, it’s being able to analyze and act on it in real time.

The surveyalso found that 71 percent of respondents struggle with data inaccuracies on adaily basis; 62 percent say there is an issue with data automation and not alloperational decisions have been automated; 46 percent struggle withinterpreting data sets; and 39 percent have difficulty managing unstructureddata. Altogether, 58 percent say that they will make bigger investments in dataanalysis over the next three years.

Schlesingerstates that resolving the challenges related to big data requires a strategicfocus more than technology tools. Organizations that have undergone mergers andacquisitions face particularly steep challenges, particularly when it comes tohandling data governance and data quality issues.

The firststep, he says, is for an organization to break down departmental and businessprocess silos so that different applications and systems aren’t running atdifferent sites. "Remarkably, some companies still use multiple ERP,payroll, HR and other systems at different locations," Schlesinger notes.

In somecases, organizations may need to upgrade storage networks in order to connectto data scattered across an enterprise. Others must find more effective ways toassimilate social media streams, video, spreadsheets, e-mail and other forms ofunstructured data.

Finally,there’s an increased need to focus on hard analytics and find talented staffcapable of managing big data environments. About half of the survey’srespondents indicated that a shortage of talent contributed to big datahardships.

In the end,there’s no simple solution or quick fix, Schlesinger says. "Big data isnot so much a technology issue as it is a need to map data more effectively,?he points out. "Organizations that have a fundamental understanding oftheir overall data environment are positioned for greater success."