'Big Data' demands new IT approach to analytics

Organisations need to change their approach to business analytics if they are to capitalise on the potential of 'Big Data', it has been suggested.

IT analyst IDC said the exponential growth of data volumes is creating new challenges for companies seeking to derive business insight from IT solutions.

Rapidly growing variety of data sources and an increased rate of data generation are putting existing infrastructures under pressure, the firm said.

IDC associate vice-president Philip Carter said the new aspects of 'Big Data' are creating unprecedented levels of complexity for organisations, and the individuals operating in this area.

Because massive data sets cannot be processed, managed and analysed using traditional databases and architectures, new approaches are needed, he said.

"What is becoming clearer is that the real value from 'Big Data' will be derived from the high-end analytics - predominantly using data mining, statistics, optimisation and forecasting type of capabilities to proactively turn data into intelligence, to drive business benefits and better decision making capabilities."

In order to cope with the challenges 'Big Data' poses, firms must begin looking at the applications they use for business analytics, but also the supporting architecture, IDC said.

The use of cloud bursting, the deployment of analytical appliances, and the creation of truly scalable enterprise architectures can provide solutions for businesses, it added.

IDC said businesses should be able to deploy new technologies and frameworks to assist with the analysis of large pools of disparate, unstructured data.

However, this will create new challenges for IT professionals, in terms of the requirement of new technical skills sets. Companies may also be required to revise the role of the business analyst, as they become more akin to 'data scientists'.

"These individuals will have strong statistical skills and will be able to extract information from large datasets and present value to non-analytical experts," IDC predicted.

"They will also have the unique skill of understanding the new algorithms and analytical models that will have the most significant business impact in the short term."