Some companies may be reluctant to adopt Big Data technologies because of the organizational changes using them may require. However, it's possible that these innovations are actually spurring on progress themselves.
In an article for Healthcare IT News, Karin Ratchinsky, director of healthcare strategy at Level 3 Communications, noted that new security advances have arisen with Big Data. Companies could see this as a reversal of the standard view: instead of preparing for Big Data, it may be Big Data that is creating the new conditions for standard corporate IT functions.
Beyond preventative security policies, Big Data may also influence marketing, HR and personnel strategies. Writing about this last factor, Forbes contributor Louis Columbus recently looked at data from WANTED Analytics, showing important trends in the Big Data workforce in the coming year. Out of a list of ten different industries, "Professional, Scientific and Technical Services," accounted for the most Big Data hires at 30 percent.
Tara Kelly of SPLICE Software recently wrote about the ways that greater reliance on data has to be matched with proper skills. While she argues on behalf of "small data," she also acknowledges the things that Big Data alone can accomplish when handled well.
"A large dataset requires significant expertise to analyze and apply if it's collected from a variety of sources, and contains primary data," she writes for Data Informed. "When processed using sound methods, this dataset can yield valuable insights, but there is also a risk of over-analysis and misapplication. It's true, of course, that any data can be overanalyzed or misapplied."
Companies can use a Web-based terminal emulator to free their processing from traditional downloads and focus on dispersing applications over multiple devices.