My life is so complex. I’ve got information coming in from everywhere! Work data, family stuff, friends, dogs, favorite TV shows and sports teams. How is one man supposed to deal with all of this information?
Wait! I’ve got it. I’ll take a big data approach to my life. From now on, just call me Big Data Man.
OK, I know what you’re thinking. “Jim, I mean, Big Data Man, where did you come up with this strategy? And just what does taking a big data approach mean?”
Those are good questions imaginary reader.
Like many of my ideas, this came from seeing a recurring theme in the flood of product marketing and press releases that I get on a regular basis. Pretty much everywhere I turn, there are vendors talking about their big data approach to solving X. There are big data approaches to understanding networks, big data approaches for application performance monitoring, big data approaches to security, and I’m still waiting for the big data approaches to big data.
Now, when it comes to “what does a big data approach mean”, that’s a tougher question. For the most part, these marketing pitches aren’t talking about actually using real big data analytics. True big data technologies like Hadoop are as rare as a yellow elephant for these vendors.
Really, what they are talking about is a big data state of mind. If there’s a problem where there is a lot of different information coming in from a lot of different sources, than these vendors argue that they can help you break down, analyze and make effective use of this data from a unified interface or tool.
And there is certainly a lot of value to be found in this kind of approach. There are plenty of complex and data rich problems that organizations face today, and anything that helps them quickly understand and utilize the information they need is a welcome development.
Still, these kind of marketing pitches can be confusing, not just for customers but for us on the analyst and media side. I’ve seen more than a few cases where someone stopped by my desk asking if product x was a big data product, when really it was just a product trying to help improve analytics and monitoring from lots of data sources.
Of course, some will say, who are you to decide what is and isn’t big data? If people can sell SaaS products as cloud products, than anything is fair game.
And you would be right. In the end, if products help people, than they are worth having (so long as the marketing messaging doesn’t lead them to overlook good but mislabeled products).
For those of you looking for good information on big data, there’s lots of excellent Aberdeen research available on the topic.
And now it’s time for me to figure out a way to watch the Red Sox in the World Series, take my wife out to dinner, rehearse for band, and catch up on The Walking Dead. Big data approach, Activate!
