An overarching theme at CompTIA’s EMEA Member & Partner Conference this year has been defining Big Data and its role across our members’ and partners’ organisations.
A panel of experts from across the industry stripped back some of the layers surrounding this all encompassing and often misunderstood area of IT in a session chaired by Carl West, business group director, IT, office and stationery, GfK Retail and Technology UK.
So is big data relevant to small businesses? A quick audience straw poll suggested around half believed it was.
But does everyone fully understanding what Big Data is and how it impacts their business?
Phil Thomas, software client architect, Big Data and analytics at IBM thinks not. He suggested that Big Data means different things to different people. Technical people think of giant server rooms, while others think of the content generated through social media.
Gavin Russell, founder and CEO of Wavex Technology Limited, agreed but held a more abstract view. He suggested Big Data is characterised by business at all levels struggling to understand the data they have. Big businesses might have more data to manage, but this is simply scaled, with smaller businesses facing the same challenges with smaller amounts. He suggests all businesses look at data like “footsteps in the snow” – paths that have been taken and that can be used as a guide to the future.
Campbell Williams, group strategy and marketing director at Six Degrees Group, is more skeptical. He feels there is a lot of hype surrounding Big Data. “This is just giving old stuff a shiny new coat,” he said. Directors aren’t asking him for help with Big Data, but asking for support to speed up the analytics process. “This is a continuation of data management as it always has been,” he said.
He also suggests businesses looking to utilise Big Data to optimise customer service should look at the bigger picture. Campbell pointed out that a major British department store chain famed for outstanding levels of customer service doesn’t know its customers like a data-centric retailer such as Amazon. But their success lies in their culture, rather than their strategy. “Culture eats strategy for lunch,” he said.
The answer to Big Data’s relevancy to small businesses lies in how these businesses tie together the data they are continually gathering from multiple sources. Thomas said, “You can have the best CRM system in the world, but if don’t have comprehensive view across all channels and can’t join them up, then you’re missing a trick.”
