How are you contributing to the Big Data phenomenon?

Recently The Economist released a new video adding more flavour to the already well-hyped Big Data topic. The key factors discussed in this concise and absorbing video were the predicted increase in the volume of stored data, and more importantly, the driving forces of this change.

As the video goes on to explain – according to IDC’s 2011 Digital Universe Study – the number of Exabytes of data stored will increase from 2,720 to 7,910 between 2012 and 2015.

To put this into perspective, an Exabyte is the equivalent of one billion Gigabytes – try fitting that onto your external hard drive!

Unsurprisingly, as this study predicts, the video suggests that the high amount of data captured will be predominantly (and ironically) made up of videos and images. Social media sites are at the forefront of this increase in data, providing a plethora of new ways to share and publish a wide range of visual media. And with the unremitting growth of social media, one would expect this trend to continue.

Ok. So we have the facts. Data is growing – fast. But why the big hype around Big Data?

Essentially, the more data you have available, the more in-depth, different, and previously unseen types of analysis you’ll be able to conduct. The significance? As with any Business Intelligence (BI) solution, decision-making is at the forefront; meaning you may need to leverage information from a variety of different sources. And with the power of Yellowfin’s Storyboard presentation layer, this vast array of visual media can now be incorporated into any presentation, to complement the power of live analytics at your fingertips.

So with all these changes to the volume of data available for reporting and analytics, what will that mean for analysts? With easy-to-use and powerful BI software such as Yellowfin, in conjunction with fast well-designed data infrastructure, the value of Big Data can be harnessed by anyone.

So, with more people publishing and contributing to this increase in data, will that mean more people need to leverage the power of BI? Only time will tell.