Comments on: It’s not the big data, it’s the right data

By: Barb Darrow

Barb Darrow — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:29:51 +0000

@leon you’re right… i left a few out. Not intentional…it’s interesting that they are still with us (as opposed to others i mentioned)

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:44:46 +0000

@ Steve couldn’t agree more, and there is a company where this is the very core of what they do: http://www.sas.com/high-performance-analytics/

By: Jim Rembach

Jim Rembach — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:12:40 +0000

I completely agree that the first step to capitalize on big data is in figuring out which data points are the most relevant. But the issue goes well beyond finding the right analytics tools. Even the best tools aren’t the answer, without skilled analysts who can break down reports and dashboards, and provide actionable business advice and direction that the c-suite can understand.

By: Alex James

Alex James — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:07:52 +0000

Steve, my company is using MarketShare (www.marketshare.com) – working with big companies and doing exactly what you are saying…

By: Alex James

Alex James — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:54:52 +0000

Steve, check out MarketShare (www.marketshare.com) – that is precisely what they have built…

By: CMO

CMO — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:37:07 +0000

Thanks, Steve… yes, http://www.marketshare.com is doing that… agree this is the key…

By: Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:46:00 +0000

Another way to put it is that Big Data requires an equally Big Filter to be useful.

By: Eli Israel

Eli Israel — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:44:23 +0000

The bigger the data, the more it draws a contrast with our limited human brains, which are sadly no bigger than they ever were.

The frontier isn’t (just) big data, it’s relevance and meaning.

Without a focus on results, big data is just piling up a bigger haystack on the theory that it somehow multiplies the chance of finding a needle.

By: Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:43:32 +0000

So true. It is the right data, in the right hands, with the right context, at the right time. Any one of those pieces missing and Big Data is Bloated Data rather than useful.

By: Eric Fairfield

Eric Fairfield — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:55:53 +0000

I have been analyzing what is now called ‘big data’ for more than 20 years, mostly in the Human Genome Project, microarrays, and now neuroscience. My first screen in the pile of data is for data quality. Not just general quality but quality in answering the problem that is being asked. Routinely, 90% of the ‘data’ has to be discarded at this stage because it is numbers but not really data. The biggest reason to discard ‘data’ is that the data is not known to be reproducible or the conditions under which the data were collected are unknown or can’t be reconciled with other data.