Big Data, the big thing to happen to the internet

To first talk about big data, it is important to understand what it is. The term ‘Big Data’ is usually used to define a Big Data Platform. This is a data set that can handle sizes much larger than the average software tools can. 

An example of a Big Data tool is Hadoop (mentioned in a previous post) which is used to handle large quantities of data to capture, manage and process. 

This year, Gartner updated the definition of 'Big Data' to the following "Big Data are high-volume, high-velocity, and/or high-variety information assets that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced decision making, insight discovery and process optimization."

Why Big Data is a Big Thing

Big data is changing what computers can do. Without it, Google would have not been what it is today as the sheer quantity of information has grown significantly. It is changing things for three reasons:

  

        1.    It handles huge amounts of information in all types of formats

        2.    Its fast, almost instant

        3.    It uses low cost hardware making it affordable

For these three reasons it’s solving several problems companies would normally face.

Pat Gelsinger, the Chief Operating Officer of the storage giant EMC stated that big data is a $70 billion market and is growing at a massive 15-20% a year. Almost every tech company is interested and are investing heavily in ‘Big Data’ products and services. 

Gartner’s Hype Cycle Highlights

One highlight of the Hype Cycle is the quick adaptation for organisations to buy SaaS (Software as a Service) which allows Gartner to predict that more than 50% of companies will use SaaS applications by 2015. Another important highlight is that cloud email is expected to be used in 10% of organisations, which was a surprising drop since previous hype cycle forecasts where close to 20%.

The factors driving the SaaS adoption is the overcoming of IT and budget limitations and the increase in ‘big data’. Big data will have a strong impact within organisations in 2-5 years.

Markets of cloud management business processes are expected to increase annually by 25%. There has been an increase in the interest of cloud solutions for MDM (Master Data Management). The MDM cloud solutions involve the following leading suppliers: Cognizant, Data Scout, IBM, Informatica, Oracle and Orchestra Network.

One of the most notable highlights is that by 2014, the personal cloud is expected to replace the PC as the main data management for a user’s digital life. And an impressive 75% of enterprises surveyed by Gartner are planning to move to cloud computing by 2014.

When is your company planning to move to the cloud?

Gartner’s Hype Cycle and its cloud assessment

Gartner recently released its annual report of the Hype Cycle, which represents an annual assessment of over 1,900 technologies and trends in IT security and IT. The cloud computing 2012 model of the Hype Cycle is designed to help companies understand the standpoint of advancement in technology and their market demand.

Although many vendors are offering a strategy for cloud computing, not many have been able to show that their strategies are centralised cloud.

Gartner’s report states that “Many misconceptions exist around potential benefits, pitfalls and, of course, cost savings. Cloud is often part of cost-cutting discussions, even though its ability to cut costs is not a given. There are also many reasons to talk about the capabilities enabled by cloud computing: agility, speed and innovation. These are the potential benefits that can be overlooked if hype fatigue sets in”.

Moreover, it is being predicted that many of the technologies will advance and continue to transform. One example of this is that in the next two years virtualization will pass through significant changes. And within the next 2 to 5 years, significant changes will happen in advertising in a cloud, big data, cloud computing, PaaS (Platform as a Service), and public clouds.

Gartner: CEOs to increase IT spend

Gartner, in its CEO Survey 2012, has revealed that, by more than a two-to-one ratio, CEOs are willing to increase their spending on IT, rather than reduce it.

Growth has emerged as a number one priority for the 229 CEOs surveyed. According to Gartner, CRM is the technology preferred to help businesses achieve this objective.

Gartner urges CIOs to improve IT-related competitor intelligence to help business emerge out of the testing economic scenario.