It seems that everybody wants to jump on the Big Data bandwagon, and while the term itself is subject to some confusion and not a little ridicule – i.e. the worst category name ever – it is quickly becoming a major concern for the IT world. Earlier this year Deloitte and Wikibon surveys predicted the 2012 Big Data market will be worth $1.3-$5 billion, primarily consisting of pilot projects with fewer than 50 full-scale BD projects (10 PBs and above) worldwide, but new research indicates this market is exploding.
A new Gartner report says Big Data will drive $32 billion of IT spending in 2013 and $232 billion through 2016. “In 2011, big data formed a new driver in almost every category of IT spending,” said Mark Beyer, research vice president at Gartner. “However, through 2018, big data requirements will gradually evolve from differentiation to ‘table stakes’ in information management practices and technology. By 2020, big data features and functionality will be non-differentiating and routinely expected from traditional enterprise vendors and part of their product offerings.”
Nemertes Research said nearly 30% of organizations have initiated big data projects, with another 5.6% expected to in the next 18 months. The top driver of Big Data projects is the need to analyze data already on hand, followed by initiatives facing out toward customers, but it creates technology challenges around storage and management, as well as organizational challenges.
According to IDC, Big Data represents a big opportunity and big challenges for government, “given that today’s transaction-based systems and siloed programs discourage information sharing and hinder transition from a process driven organization to data driven organization.” The transitioning of Big Data projects from vision to reality requires innovative leadership, coupled with the ability to obtain resources critical for success, it advised.
Finding the right people to take advantage of Big Data won’t just be a public-sector issue, warned Gartner. “By 2015, 4.4 million IT jobs globally will be created to support big data, generating 1.9 million IT jobs in the United States,” said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research. “In addition, every big data-related role in the U.S. will create employment for three people outside of IT, so over the next four years a total of 6 million jobs in the U.S. will be generated by the information economy.”
Unfortunately most of these jobs will not be filled. There is not enough talent in the industry, he said. “Therefore, only one-third of the IT jobs will be filled. Data experts will be a scarce, valuable commodity.”
The industry must find those skills, said Sondergaard because they will be needed to grow business. “These jobs are the future of the new information economy.” The IT industry is entering what Gartner calls the Nexus of Forces, which includes a confluence and integration of cloud, social collaboration, mobile and information, and this is a time of accelerating change, where your current IT architecture will be rendered obsolete.
“You must lead through this change, selectively destroy low impact systems, and aggressively change your IT cost structure. This is the New World of the Nexus, the next age of computing.”
Big data creates a new layer in the economy which is all about information, turning information, or data, into revenue. “Big data is about looking ahead, beyond what everybody else sees,” said Sondergaard.
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