The most popular and comprehensive Open Source ECM platform
Let us know more
Big Data: Big Data as a Service Fills the Need of Context
As some companies begin to tap into insights derived from analyzing their data, the companies that haven’t taken the leap into Big Data yet are looking for way that they can jump in too. “Big Data as a Service” (BDaaS) is likely the option that many of these companies will select.
Adrian Gardner, CIO of the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center, said that “Companies will have to morph for big data. The companies that flow with information will survive, but we’re going to be overwhelmed.”
The need to keep abreast of the competition in the area of Big Data certainly has the attention of many companies. But most companies aren’t going to be able to get started with Big Data on their own. Data collection and analysis is not a core competency of many businesses.
Edwin Schouten, Cloud Services Leader for IBM Global Technology Services, argues that to be competitive, companies are increasingly identifying and focusing on the development of their core business while adopting commodity solutions for those parts of their business that don’t relate to their core. Geoffrey Moore’s calls this approach ‘core /context’. “Core represents everything that makes the organization unique, the unique selling points. Context, on the other side, is everything else. When used correctly, the core/context model will provide the organization with insight into where to invest and what to externalize. Core, in general, needs investment to strengthen the competitive position of the organization. Context can most likely be externalized–sourced from external services providers.”
While the results from data analysis can often directly support the core business, for most companies, the actual mechanics of managing data and performing analytics falls into the category of context.
Because of that, many companies will be looking to outsource their data programs.
A summary of the factors that are likely to drive companies to outsource their Big Data programs (Big Data as a Service) include:
- Increasingly companies are collecting Big Data sets and they would like to be able to mine that data for insights
- Companies would like to be able to mine social data and other external data but don’t have the appropriate tools or know-how
- Company employees typically lack the analytic skills for processing and interpreting data
- Data and analytics vendors will begin to make services available for collecting and analyzing data that will be offered at attractive pricing
