Six big data trends in 2014

Data are being generated by every device imaginable. Big data are arriving from multiple sources at an alarming velocity, volume, variety and veracity.

It is estimated that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created each day—so much that 90 percent of the data in the world today was created in the last two years alone.

Big data represent a new era of computing—an inflection point of opportunity where data in any format may be explored and utilized for breakthrough insights— whether that data are in-place, in-motion, or at-rest.  Big Data are all about better analytics on a broader spectrum of data and represent an opportunity to create even more differentiation for an organization.

Big Data and Analytics have evolved from business initiative to business imperative. Hidden patterns in structured and unstructured data are revealed and questions that could not even be asked before can now be answered. When leveraged to optimize decision-making, this capability can become a formidable force for differentiation and success.

Based on feedback from IBM’s enterprise clients, businesses will sharpen their focus on big data and place a greater emphasis on analytics projects, data related security and privacy, and a new generation of cognitive-intelligence apps.

Here are six ways organizations will react to the big data phenomenon this year:

1. More analytics, fewer gut feelings. Companies will grow increasingly data driven and willing to apply analytics derived insights to key business operations. Intuitive decision-making will diminish somewhat as companies “infuse analytics into everything that employees touch.

2. Businesses get serious about big data privacy and security. Organizations in 2014 will have to build security, privacy, and governance policies into their big data processes. This might involve a careful balancing act, as business devises innovative, data driven projects that deliver usable insights while addressing security threats that might arise.

3. A bigger investment in big data. Big data insights are not free, particularly when they involve spending real money on a Hadoop platform. But that won’t stop companies from investing in big data platforms. New applications in 2014 will enable a wider range of analytics, including “reporting, dashboards and planning, predictive analytics, recommendations, and new cognitive capabilities” for transactional, social, mobile, and other data types.

4. Welcome, Chief Data Officer, Chief Analytics Officer and Chief Insights Officer. It seems there’s room for more at the top. More organizations in 2014 will bring a chief data officer (CDO) and chief analytics officer (CAO) on board and expect the evolution of the CIO, from Chief Information Officer to Chief Insight Officer.  Harnessing Big Data will be a business priority, with organizations wading through data clutter to separate signal from noise. This phenomenon has made it critical for organizations to understand, evaluate and create the right forum to enable the pervasive use of analytics.

As the titles implies, these new members of the C-suite will be the enterprise’s “champion of data” and is tasked to find ways to extract and make good use of those all-important insights from new forms of digital information. Outisde of the C-suite, we also see the emergence of the Data Scientist—somebody who is inquisitive, who can stare at data and spot trends. It’s almost like a Renaissance individual who really wants to learn and bring change to an organization.  This new ‘sexy’ professional will be in higher demand and a necessary skill for every enterprise to compete in the era of cognitive.

5. Smarter big data apps. Plenty of software firms are working on big data apps designed to bring the power of analytics to the masses, ideally reducing an organization’s reliance on highly trained, highly paid data scientists. Next year will bring a “new ecosystem” of developers, ISVs, and startups that create a new class of cognitive computing apps. These programs will learn and improve with experience, thereby helping organizations solve complex questions.

6. Outside data are as important as inside data. As every big data watcher knows, the explosive growth of social media, mobile devices, and machine sensors is generating a wealth of bits that either didn’t exist or weren’t accessible a few years ago. Some of this data is generated within an organization, but a larger percentage comes from the outside—Twitter streams, for instance.

In 2014, businesses will find more ways to harness this mix of structured and unstructured data, ideally helping them better address the needs of their employees and customers.

With the continued trend towards Big Data and Analytics, the huge global market now estimated at around $220 billion with the potential to create more or less 4.4 million jobs all over the world, presents a golden opportunity for the Philippines to seize.

The Philippines is poised to lead in the global big data and analytics market due many factors including the number of university graduates produced annually that can make the shift, growing technical skill and the proven success and experience in the business process outsourcing (BPO).

With a matured BPO industry, PH has the opportunity to help global clients turn their services as insights and into something more, by making good use of the data captured and managed for them.

In close collaboration with the academe and industry, the Philippines can be the Global Center for Smarter Analytics, with the enormous potential to establish data policy to embrace analytics, not only as a capability, but as an industry.  Being a global center means that the Philippines will be home to top consulting, technical and support skills for the sales, solutioning and delivery of advanced global business analytics certification and will be a core point of knowledge and responsibility for business analytics where best practices will be developed and implemented.

To help position the Philippines better, IBM is working with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) in executing a Big Data and Analytics education roadmap to enable the next generation of Filipino workers.  In 2013, top local universities have already started offering Big Data and Analytics courses in undergraduate Business and IT curricula, making the Philippines the first country to officially declare Big Data and Analytics as a profession.

Big Data and Analytics have the potential to redefine the Philippines’ role as a leader not only in the IT industry, but in the new era of cognitive.

The author is president and country general manager of IBM Philippines.