It sounds a bit heretical in a time when big data is such a hot topic at conferences, in publications, and certainly in marketing. But Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive for software and systems at IBM, insists big data does not represent a huge paradigm change in processes or results.
“Every big data project I have looked at, and I have looked at hundreds because we at IBM have tremendous visibility across the market in business and government, and the kinds of things being done are logical extensions of what organizations were doing before at a dramatically different scale. We haven’t changed the laws of physics, but we have certainly found ways to make complex things far more affordable.”
Big data today means that a wide range of organizations, perhaps soon individuals, will be handling data stores that were previously the reserve of governments and well-funded research labs.
“It isn’t that people woke up and saw they suddenly had more data,” Mills explained. “Everyone knew it was there, everyone knew they could do more if they had more data. The challenge was being able to afford to do it.”
Some of the largest and most sophisticated computer environments in the world were in governments where they have long been used for functions such as weather forecasting and nuclear weapons research.
“As time has gone by and the price has come down, more and more companies find they can afford sophisticated analytics without spending a fortune,” added Mills. “A clear example is retail which runs with low margins. They have invested in analytics to run loyalty programs and to uncover up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. Five or ten years ago they would have been more challenged to come up with those investments.”
Each year the computer industry delivers more capability and improved price performance which wides the scope of customers who find big data systems affordable. As the trend continues, companies will collect more kinds of data, conduct more analytics and do them faster, moving to real-time so they can make rapid adjustments in what they offer customers who are trolling through their Web sites or walking past their store.
“Throw mobility on top. You have more people on the planet with more devices able to do more things. Businesses will respond.”
Executives in the C-suite may not spend a lot of time discussing the merits of Hadoop but they have become technologically literate, said Mills, and they are very focused on results.
“They don’t express their requires from a tech aspect; they are looking for outcomes. Everyone has an agenda for transformation and change. Companies are trying to improve themselves operationally, reducing overhead while improving customer relationship loyalty.”
Married to that is a concern about whether they can achieve those goals with their internal IT organization.
“They are anxious to do business with vendors who can show them a path to improved outcomes.”
