The growth and expansion of ever larger databases in industry and management is probably not avoidable. But there is still a ways to go until big-data projects open up additional business fields or create new knowledge.
The German industry association BITKOM estimates that sales of big data services will post an average growth of 46 percent annually until 2016, or almost an eight-fold expansion within five years. Together with companies and the research sector the EU therefore wants to promote a data-driven economy, backed by a total planned investment of 2.5 billion euros. Two years ago US President Barack Obama set out an open data policy ‘to advance the management of Government information as an asset’. Evaluating large amounts of data today involves modern databases, linguistic analysis, and visualisation tools. For that, though, high-performance IT systems, powerful broadband networks and virtually unlimited storage capacity must be in place.
The sticking point remains the same: how the indexing and processing of large amounts of data and of different data formats and data sources can help a company acquire specific knowledge or tap into new sources of revenues. Automaker General Motors furnishes one reliable example: the telematic data of its OnStar navigation system are used in the United States to calculate rates for auto insurance policies sold through National General Insurance, an outside company. Drivers who cover less than 15,000 miles a year can get a discount of up to 54 percent on the rate for drivers who drive much longer distances.
Among mid-sized companies, however, only a few know what concrete added value can come from big data. Before they set up new processes, the data and infrastructure must already be available; cooperation with partners is probably also needed. Data protection, transparency and trust among partners and customers are also key. (Source: BITKOM/Accenture/bs)