Taming The Big Data Tidal Wave

You receive an e-mail. It contains an offer for a complete personalcomputer system. It seems like the retailer read your mind sinceyou were exploring computers on their web site just a few hoursprior.... As you drive to the store to buy the computer bundle, you get anoffer for a discounted coffee from the coffee shop you are gettingready to drive past. It says that since you're in the area,you can get 10% off if you stop by in the next 20minutes.... As you drink your coffee, you receive an apology from themanufacturer of a product that you complained about yesterday onyour Facebook page, as well as on the company's website.... Finally, once you get back home, you receive notice of a specialarmor upgrade available for purchase in your favorite online videogame. It is just what is needed to get past some spotsyou've been struggling with.... Sound crazy? Are these things that can only happen in thedistant future? No. All of these scenarios are possible today! Bigdata. Advanced analytics. Big data analytics. It seems youcan't escape such terms today. Everywhere you turn people arediscussing, writing about, and promoting big data and advancedanalytics. Well, you can now add this book to the discussion. What is real and what is hype? Such attention can lead one tothe suspicion that perhaps the analysis of big data is somethingthat is more hype than substance. While there has been a lot ofhype over the past few years, the reality is that we are in atransformative era in terms of analytic capabilities and theleveraging of massive amounts of data. If you take the time to cutthrough the sometimes-over-zealous hype present in the media,you'll find something very real and very powerful underneathit. With big data, the hype is driven by genuine excitement andanticipation of the business and consumer benefits that analyzingit will yield over time. Big data is the next wave of new data sources that will drivethe next wave of analytic innovation in business, government, andacademia. These innovations have the potential to radically changehow organizations view their business. The analysis that big dataenables will lead to decisions that are more informed and, in somecases, different from what they are today. It will yield insightsthat many can only dream about today. As you'll see, thereare many consistencies with the requirements to tame big data andwhat has always been needed to tame new data sources. However, theadditional scale of big data necessitates utilizing the newesttools, technologies, methods, and processes. The old way ofapproaching analysis just won't work. It is time to evolvethe world of advanced analytics to the next level. That'swhat this book is about. Taming the Big Data Tidal Wave isn't just the titleof this book, but rather an activity that will determine whichbusinesses win and which lose in the next decade. By preparing andtaking the initiative, organizations can ride the big data tidalwave to success rather than being pummeled underneath the crushingsurf. What do you need to know and how do you prepare in order tostart taming big data and generating exciting new analytics fromit? Sit back, get comfortable, and prepare to find out!