The Age of Data
Since we live a significant portion of our lives in the digital world, leaving an ever-increasing digital trail, data is being created all the time. In addition to this, we are on the verge of quantifying and tracking just about everything in our domains - including social, mobile, cloud, web, and other signals, plus ubiquitous sensors in the Internet-of-Things (IoT). Most organizations are seeing their data volumes rise by 30 to 50 percent every year.
Dr. Kirk Borne, the #1 Big Data influencer on social media since 2013 states the following in his foreword to my book - Data-Driven Leaders Always Win: An Essential Guide for Leaders In the Age of Data - data collections are now recognized as a core business asset, a new natural resource, a driver of business change and innovation, a source of increased and/or new revenue streams, a creative force for new products and new markets, and a job opportunity bonanza for those with essential data skills.
The Real Value Is In Turning Data To Insights
Raw data by itself is of limited value. It's the insights derived from it that create tangible value. Industry research shows that most companies spend 80% of the effort on preparing data for analysis and only 20% effort is spent on the value creation part - generating insights. This can only be changed by addressing the root causes - immature data management capability and a lack of repeatable processes and automation.