The Real Value of Big Data and Why We Should Be More Aware of It

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If you believe that ‘big data’ is merely spying on your Facebook posts and your credit card details, then you need to think again as the data industry will be the next trillion-dollar battleground.

To prove big data’s worth, the owner of Dell Inc, Michael Dell, is reportedly set to splash out $US67 billion for data storage and cloud computing firm EMC. The main reason is because Dell reckons ECM as the only player prepared to handle the shear volume of data that’s about to be collected on us all.

“It used to be PCs and smartphones; now you have tablets and sensors and cars spinning out all kinds of telemetry data, and all kinds of machines and products and services becoming digital products” said Dell. “Within all of those devices, you have a thousand times more applications, and the data is very rich. If you look at companies today, most of them are not very good at using the data they have to make better decisions in real time. I think this is where the next trillion dollars comes from for our customers and for our industry,” he added.

Sure, there are other players in the data storage market today. However, analysts believe if Dell can harness ECM’s existing clout and make it more attainable and affordable, he will knock the other players out of the market and virtually command the data of most people on the planet. Once Dell has his hands on that, its company can repackage it into other forms such as software packages, cloud devices and consulting services.

The big data technology and services market represents a fast-growing multibillion-dollar worldwide opportunity. In fact, a recent study shows that they will grow at a 26.4 per cent compound annual growth rate to $41.5 billion through 2018, or about six times the growth rate of the overall information technology market. Additionally, by 2020, that line of business buyers will help drive analytics beyond its historical sweet spot of relational (performance management) to the double-digit growth rates of real-time intelligence and exploration/discovery of the unstructured worlds.