CIOIN

Big data and analytics is steadily supplanting cloud computing as the next big wave to sweep across enterprise IT. Ovum research attests that big data and analytics will be one of the most significant drivers of technological change in 2012. In a November 2011 report, Big Data Interest Bubbling Under the Surface, Ovum revealed that 44 percent of organizations they polled will budget for big data projects in the next two to five years. One-third said they would do so in 2012. And according to the State of the CIO Survey 2011, 19 percent of Indian CIOs feel that big data is going to be a buzzword in 2012. 

“Data is exploding. Most enterprises we spoke to predicted that in 2012 alone the amount of data in their warehouses will grow by at least 10 to 20 percent,” said Tony Baer, author of the report. As CIOs scramble to manage the torrent of data zipping around the enterprise, they are beginning to take a serious look at the big data conundrum—and for a growing number of CIOs big data and analytics is the way forward.

Big Data, Big Power 

Like most next-big-things, big data and analytics has its cheerleaders. Dr. Jai Menon, group director, innovation & IT, Bharti Enterprises, is one of them. He believes that in 2012, CIOs will try to devise new ways to wield big data. So far, he says, the IT community has been in data gathering mode but now it will figure out how to use that treasure trove on a real-time basis. 2012 will see the first steps in this direction. 

Menon explains the concept of big data  and analytics using a Venn diagram with three intersecting circles. The first circle, he says, comprises all the enterprise data, including e-mail and feeds, internal social networking, etcetera. The second circle has to do with the voice of the customer, including data that deals with customers of a particular business. And the third circle is partner ecosystem data. Although these three circles are distinct, they do intersect and different tools and techniques will have to be applied to each. 

“The two trends in big data and analytics are real time and unstructured. In 2012, a third trend will emerge: Segmentation of the big data problem. Enterprises will be able to clearly segment what questions they’re seeking answers for in each of these three circles. And that is what I would encourage the CIO community to start thinking about. This trend is most critical because then you will start thinking about the questions you want big data to answer and then go about discovering those insights,” he says.

In 2012, Menon is looking forward to more real-time analytics. “Analytics technologies are maturing rapidly and we will see streaming analytics come in. I see the Indian communication sector shifting from what was earlier known as data warehouse, then BI, and now towards streaming analytics so that we can get real-time analytics,” he says. 

Menon isn’t the only one getting started on big data and analytics. Industries, especially those with large amounts of data like media houses and pharmaceuticals or those with large customer bases like telecom and BFSI,  are more likely to avail of the big data analytics. 

CIOs in these sectors say that they are going to need to think outside the box if they want to keep up with the challenges of dealing with the data their enterprises produce.  Reliance Communication is a case in point. 

“Our data is growing enormously due to subscriber growth and the consumption of our services. We are applying innovative methods and process changes to manage and capitalize on resulting data. This data has shown a growth of 25 percent,” says Alpna Doshi, CIO, Reliance Group and CEO Reliance Tech Services. 

Reliance Communication uses a data management system, which is designed to monitor and handle large data growth. Its data is segregated under three buckets: Customer centric (data required for customer services), business data (data required for analytics, trend analysis and business forecasts), and legal data.

These early adoptors will give their enterprises a big boost. Gartner estimates that by 2015, businesses using big data analytics will outperform their peers financially by 20 percent. “Early adoption of this solution paves way for faster rollout of many customer-facing services,” says Doshi. 

Big Data, Baby Steps

For enterprises that want to get started early on the big data and analytics  road, Menon suggests a slow but outcome-based approach, one that searches for answers to very specific questions—and not boil the ocean. “Look at it one drop at a time and slowly build it up rather than having a comprehensive all-or-nothing solution. The success of big data lies in using it in bite sizes and evolving from there,” says Menon.  

Menon also suggests a three-step process. The first step, he says, is to educate the business about the big data challenge and its opportunities. The second is getting your feet wet. Pick one business problem that you’d like to solve, he says, and run a proof of concept. It’s important, during this stage, he says, to collaborate with one of these functions: Marketing, customer service or finance. 

Step three is then building a roadmap. When you build a roadmap, he says, you must always have specific trigger points so that you know when to stop—or not to. He advises CIOs not to bunch these trigger points too close; they should be at least six months.

Menon’s deliberate approach is going to help with a problem that big data experts predict CIOs will confront: Business apathy. Another way around this challenge is CIOs to walk hand in hand with their businesses. 

“CIOs need to partner with marketing, customer service, and finance to infuse analytical talent in these departments and build a tight bridge with the business. CIOs will have to take a highly collaborative and partnership-oriented approach for value creation. Understanding big data in business language is the only way to unleash its power,” says Menon.