Taking Big Brother and big business out of big data

The impact of all of this is only just starting to become apparent, said EMC’s Adrian McDonald.

“It’s all possible because of changes in the raw technology and the ability to analyse data. Two to five years ago it just wasn’t available,” he said. “It has the potential to be as significant as the industrial revolution.”

You can take part in The Human Face of Big Data by downloading the app (available for iOS and Android) at thehumanfaceofbig data.com. The survey will run until November 20th. You must be over 18 to take part.

The business case taking advantage of big data

Research firm Nucleus claims that public and private sector organisations that leverage technology to examine large and complex data sets will see a return on investment of 241 per cent. Analysing internal data, for example, will help improve business processes, and by scouring large external data sources, such as social media sites, they will be able to identify factors that may impact on their success.

An EMC survey of senior UK management suggests there is still some confusion about defining and taking advantage of big data. Sixty per cent of private sector and 45 per cent of public sector respondents saw “making better use of customer insights, trend data, and information in and around the business” as a way to unlock growth and innovation.

Only 44 per cent, however, were able to identify what EMC regards as an accurate definition of the term “big data analytics” – a set of technologies and techniques that draw together insights from multiple data sets to provide real-time insight on specific issues.

James Petter, EMC managing director for UK and Ireland, believes there are signs that organisations are waking up to the benefits of big data, including the public sector.

“We have a proposal to save the UK government £33 billion a year by leveraging data more effectively,” he said.

Data privacy is a particularly hot issue for the sector but Petter is confident that government frameworks will address the major concerns although it will ultimately be a matter of personal responsibility.

“While we can all rely on government to set policy, it’s down to the individual as to what they want to have published,” he said.