You receive an e-mail. It contains an offer for a complete personal
computer system. It seems like the retailer read your mind since
you were exploring computers on their web site just a few hours
prior….
As you drive to the store to buy the computer bundle, you get an
offer for a discounted coffee from the coffee shop you are getting
ready to drive past. It says that since you’re in the area,
you can get 10% off if you stop by in the next 20
minutes….
As you drink your coffee, you receive an apology from the
manufacturer of a product that you complained about yesterday on
your Facebook page, as well as on the company’s web
site….
Finally, once you get back home, you receive notice of a special
armor upgrade available for purchase in your favorite online video
game. It is just what is needed to get past some spots
you’ve been struggling with….
Sound crazy? Are these things that can only happen in the
distant future? No. All of these scenarios are possible today! Big
data. Advanced analytics. Big data analytics. It seems you
can’t escape such terms today. Everywhere you turn people are
discussing, writing about, and promoting big data and advanced
analytics. Well, you can now add this book to the discussion.
What is real and what is hype? Such attention can lead one to
the suspicion that perhaps the analysis of big data is something
that is more hype than substance. While there has been a lot of
hype over the past few years, the reality is that we are in a
transformative era in terms of analytic capabilities and the
leveraging of massive amounts of data. If you take the time to cut
through the sometimes-over-zealous hype present in the media,
you’ll find something very real and very powerful underneath
it. With big data, the hype is driven by genuine excitement and
anticipation of the business and consumer benefits that analyzing
it will yield over time.
Big data is the next wave of new data sources that will drive
the next wave of analytic innovation in business, government, and
academia. These innovations have the potential to radically change
how organizations view their business. The analysis that big data
enables will lead to decisions that are more informed and, in some
cases, different from what they are today. It will yield insights
that many can only dream about today. As you’ll see, there
are many consistencies with the requirements to tame big data and
what has always been needed to tame new data sources. However, the
additional scale of big data necessitates utilizing the newest
tools, technologies, methods, and processes. The old way of
approaching analysis just won’t work. It is time to evolve
the world of advanced analytics to the next level. That’s
what this book is about.
Taming the Big Data Tidal Wave isn’t just the title
of this book, but rather an activity that will determine which
businesses win and which lose in the next decade. By preparing and
taking the initiative, organizations can ride the big data tidal
wave to success rather than being pummeled underneath the crushing
surf. What do you need to know and how do you prepare in order to
start taming big data and generating exciting new analytics from
it? Sit back, get comfortable, and prepare to find out!
Mengenai Pengarang
BILL FRANKS is the Chief Analytics Officer for Teradata, where he provides insight on trends in the analytics and big data space and helps organizations implement their analytics effectively. In addition, Bill is a faculty member of the International Institute for Analytics and is an active speaker and blogger. His consulting work has spanned many industries for companies ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small non-profits.