Hard to believe that men reached the moon on a tiny fraction of the data available in the laptops we use today.
We and our devices, our cities, even our clothes are leaving digital footprints all over the universe of big data. Businesses really need to transform how we grapple with all this information. It is still the case that knowledge is power, but the ability to use that knowledge is what will set successful companies apart.
Recent research found that 64% of companies already believe big data is changing traditional business models and 24% are already feeling disruption from new competitors moving into their industries. 58% now expect to face increased competition from startups enabled by data. (Research Report from Capgemini and EMC)
BAE Systems is a good example of business transformation using big data processing capability to better serve their customers. BAE Systems is a British defense, security, and aerospace company with operations worldwide and works with EMC, using Isilon storage systems to handle billions of data records in a given day. Their Applied Intelligence division focuses on cyber security, financial crime and complex data conundrums. In a telecommunications context, this means helping firms comply with data retention and security regulations while using big data analytics on behalf of those customers to evaluate usage patterns.
What does that mean? It means they are able to pinpoint root causes of faults in communication service provider networks and even reduce the overall cost of running those networks. Making sure that data is available on demand and that integrity is maintained throughout all IT systems is critical in the regulated telecom industry.
Data science is also being put to use within EMC Global Services. Our Data Science team has developed a Population Based Ranking tool that identifies service outliers on a weekly basis to understand how a product is actually performing compared to a population-based statistical expectation. This is helping us identify likely issues that could arise and fix them ahead of time – resolving things for our customers before they feel any impact to their business. It is a program that will only keep growing.
These are just a couple examples of using big data and data science within the enterprise space. There are all kinds of efforts underway to put the power of data to good use in the world – such as EMC’s work with Earthwatch and companies like Datakind.
With efforts like that already active in our world, as well as within business like at BAE Systems and EMC, who knows what else we can do?
