Prepare for More, Faster Data for Your Business
Turn up the Volume
Adding to the ever-increasing velocity of data is the fact that todays devices are generating extreme volumes of data on a daily basis. A new study estimates that the current global storage capacity for digital information totals around 295 exabytes. An exabyte is 1 billion gigabytes. And there’s no shortage of new sources of data that will add to this volume. For example:
IBM says that the new Square Kilometre Array telescope, designed to look for life on other planets, will generate more than an exabyte of data every day.
Recently, the Library of Congress began archiving data that will help those in the next century understand us better. The library is archiving tweets and even digitizing and archiving historical voice recordings.
George W. Bushs new presidential library has more than 1 billion pages of electronic communications.
To illustrate how far weve come in 60 years, consider that the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (the first computer) did not have storage capacity. The computers program had to be rewritten each time it was engaged.
Dealing With the Data
Your business is probably already starting to deal with this exploding volume of data. With cloud applications today becoming ubiquitous across the business landscape, your volume of data can increase without you really being aware of it and cause issues for data management.
These expanding data volumes are placing real-time analytics out of the reach of many who have not acquired the tools to manage the tremendous increase. Competing today means that you must keep up to date with the tools required both to manage and to mine your business data assets.
As we move well into the 21st century, we face new challenges with the variety, velocity and volume of the data our businesses will need to manage. At the end of this decade, our data challenges will be measured by one more quality: the value it contributes to the business.
In our next column, well explore how to harness the variety, velocity and volume of your data to gain real value.
Other articles by Theresa and Maria:
Ready for the New Era of Data?
The Price of Privacy
‘Big Data’
Hidden Gold
Theresa Kushner is a journalist-turned-marketer and director of customer intelligence within marketing at Cisco Systems. At Cisco, she directs a team of analytics strategists and specialists whose main job is to increase Ciscos market share by applying insights gathered from customer data. She and Maria Villar co-write a column for LatinBusinessToday.com. They are co-authors of Managing Your Business Data: From Chaos to Confidence, published by Racom Books in 2008.
Maria Villar is an information technology expert and a vice president at SAP, the global software company, with responsibility over the firms data governance. She and Theresa Kushner co-write a regular column to LatinBusinessToday.com. They are co-authors of Managing Your Business Data: From Chaos to Confidence, published by Racom Books in 2008. Villar was recognized in Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the Top 100 Influential Hispanics, and received the Distinguished Hispanic IT Executive award from Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference.
