Infochimp Offers Insight into Big Data Practices

If information is power, then there should be many organizations around the world that are very powerful, but this is not the case because the information they possess is not being exploited to provide the most value. Big data, a large amount of structured and unstructured data that is so massive it is difficult to process, can be powerful if is processed the right way. According to research from Infochimps, nearly half of all big data projects fail -- information becomes irrelevant no matter how massive it is if not used properly. To ensure organizations use data correctly, the company released “How to Do a Big Data Project,” a step-by-step guide for large enterprises implementing big data projects.

As a big data cloud services provider, Infochimps provides insights into how it manages this data and gives organizations pointers from the best practices it uses with some of the largest organizations around the world.

"We’ve successfully empowered a number of Fortune 1000 companies to increase their bottom lines with Big Data systems, and have done so at incredible speed. We’ve accomplished this by combining the power of cloud as a delivery model with best practices presented in this guide,” said Jim Kaskade, CEO, Infochimps.

Compared to other IT projects, big data projects fail 30 percent more, which begs the question, why? One of the biggest reasons is organizations look at the potential and lose focus on the business objectives the data can realistically achieve. With so many tools and vendors, making the right decision can be overwhelming and according to Infochimp, it leads to decision paralysis. So the information can be a blessing and a curse.

The goal of the guide is to help companies achieve a faster ROI, prove the value of big data internally and scale to support more data sources and use cases with four key steps for implementing a big data project successfully:

• Step 1 - Select your business use case: clearly defined objectives drive business value
• Step 2 - Plan your project: a well-managed plan and scope will lead to success
• Step 3 - Define your technical requirements: ensure you build what you need to reach your objectives
• Step 4 - Create a “Total Business Value Assessment”: take the politics (and emotion) out of the choices

The guide goes on to provide question for CIOs so they can make the best decision and help them answer these questions:

• What is your big data project goal?
• What direction is your business headed with disruptive big data enablers?
• What are the obstacles to getting there due to immaturity of the technology and lack of resources?
• Who needs to be the key stakeholders and what are their roles?
• What is the right big data use case determined by key stakeholders?
• How do I determine the ideal project team?
• What are the big data-enabled success criteria?
• How do I define the technical requirements of the project?
• How do I assess ‘total business value’?

Infochimps is able to deliver insights to enterprise companies in 30 days. Having actionable data from the massive amount of structured or unstructured data organizations possess in 30 days is an invaluable asset. Click here to learn more.