John L Myers

Big data is a way to look at new sources of data--structured, multi-structured, and unstructured--and how organizations place these sources of information under "new management." The EMA Big Data surveys use deliberately broad definitions of big data and data lakes to inspire end users to think beyond limiting definitions. For big data, users should look beyond just unstructured data, and for data lakes, they should look beyond "just" Hadoop. This allows organizations to face the challenges… Show more

Big data is a way to look at new sources of data--structured, multi-structured, and unstructured--and how organizations place these sources of information under "new management." The EMA Big Data surveys use deliberately broad definitions of big data and data lakes to inspire end users to think beyond limiting definitions. For big data, users should look beyond just unstructured data, and for data lakes, they should look beyond "just" Hadoop. This allows organizations to face the challenges that their legacy data management practices and platforms could not. They can evaluate how opportunities opened companies to a larger world with IoT sensor and mobile app data, augmented with customer and product information from enterprise applications. Additionally, companies can examine how traditional analytical architectures, such as the data warehouse, work with new modern data science implementations and how logical architectures that include relational databases and NoSQL platforms, such as Hadoop, MongoDB, and Cassandra, can be interwoven.

As was established in four previous studies since 2012, the broad concept of the data lake offers a range of possibilities and use cases. Beyond the initial stages of a simple exploration repository, combined data lakes (such as the EMA Hybrid Data Ecosystem) have grown to support and include traditional operational and analytical environments. In this edition of the EMA Big Data survey, a deep dive on the data lake architecture provides interesting insight. As a leading data management architecture associated with Hadoop environments, and potential coopetition for traditional enterprise data warehouses, the data lake provides both great opportunity and potential risk for organizations implementing this modern data architecture. Show less

As it was explored since the inaugural EMA/9sight survey in 2012, big data is both a way to look at new sources of data and how organizations place that information under "new management." Big data attracted a wide range of application innovators, as well as many protesters against the dominance of relational databases and data warehouses. The EMA/9sight surveys use a deliberately broad definition of big data to inspire end users to think beyond the box of limiting definitions. This will let… Show more

As it was explored since the inaugural EMA/9sight survey in 2012, big data is both a way to look at new sources of data and how organizations place that information under "new management." Big data attracted a wide range of application innovators, as well as many protesters against the dominance of relational databases and data warehouses. The EMA/9sight surveys use a deliberately broad definition of big data to inspire end users to think beyond the box of limiting definitions. This will let them see how a larger world of traditional data sources, data management, and processing can be interwoven with the new era. As was established in three (3) previous studies in 2012, 2013, and 2014/2015, big data offers a wide range of possibilities. The 2016 EMA/9sight Big Data End-user Survey continues to look at that range of possibilities for big data definitions, implementations, and technologies. Show less

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a growing concept. There are new estimates as to the number of linked devices almost every quarter. Some of these estimates go as far to say that in within five years, we will see nearly 40 billion connected devices around the globe. That would mean over five connected devices for every man, woman, and child on the planet. IoT is growing in terms of implementation. With this growth in the number of connected devices, there is a wave of adoption to take advantage… Show more

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a growing concept. There are new estimates as to the number of linked devices almost every quarter. Some of these estimates go as far to say that in within five years, we will see nearly 40 billion connected devices around the globe. That would mean over five connected devices for every man, woman, and child on the planet. IoT is growing in terms of implementation. With this growth in the number of connected devices, there is a wave of adoption to take advantage of these devices. If we can enable our vehicles via connect car initiatives, if we can enable our offices and homes as part of smart building strategies, if we can learn more about our health and medical treatments with bio-medical sensors, we can improve not just our businesses, the environment, and our lives. We can also develop disruptive new ways of looking at business models, energy production, distribution, and how to treat disease and improve quality of life. Show less

Since its inception, the concept of "big data" has been widely associated with a single data management platform--Hadoop. This connection may be due to the popularity of the use of the Hadoop platform to store and process large amounts of multi-structured data. However, Hadoop is not the only answer to the question of "what is big data?"

As was explored in the inaugural EMA/9sight survey in 2012, big data is both a way to look at new sources of data and how organizations place that… Show more

Since its inception, the concept of "big data" has been widely associated with a single data management platform--Hadoop. This connection may be due to the popularity of the use of the Hadoop platform to store and process large amounts of multi-structured data. However, Hadoop is not the only answer to the question of "what is big data?"

As was explored in the inaugural EMA/9sight survey in 2012, big data is both a way to look at new sources of data and how organizations place that information under management. Big data has attracted a wide range of application innovators as well as many protesters against the dominance of relational databases and data warehouses. The EMA/9sight surveys use a deliberately broad definition of big data to inspire end users to think beyond the box of Hadoop. The survey explores the wide range of ways in which non-traditional data, often in combination with more traditional types, has enabled new or improved business processes. As was established in previous studies in 2012 and 2013 and again in 2014, big data offers a wide range of possibilities, but the name "big data" itself keeps media and industry eyes focused on size as the defining feature.

With the 2014 survey, these previous observations continue to hold true. However, there is an evolving market in which size is not everything, and speed, in all its aspects, has grown in importance for respondents. Furthermore, respondents continue to include a wide range of data structures, from highly irregular to strongly modeled, within the scope of their projects. This refocusing of implementers’ attention on speed and structure reduces overall growth in big data by some measures and requires EMA/9sight to explore how consideration of speed and structure are changing market dynamics. The 2014 survey also included investigations into the highly visible topics of data-driven cultures, the Internet of Things, and data lake architectures. Show less

The practices and the implementation of business intelligence are no longer reserved for large enterprises with dedicated information technology (IT) teams. Business intelligence practices such as reporting and analytics are making their way to businesses of all sizes. Smaller organizations once considered that business intelligence was beyond their capital budgets, staff resources and technical environments. These companies under 500 headcount, or their independently operating department… Show more

The practices and the implementation of business intelligence are no longer reserved for large enterprises with dedicated information technology (IT) teams. Business intelligence practices such as reporting and analytics are making their way to businesses of all sizes. Smaller organizations once considered that business intelligence was beyond their capital budgets, staff resources and technical environments. These companies under 500 headcount, or their independently operating department brethren in larger enterprises, are often referred to as mid-sized organizations. These organizations are generally characterized by operating teams that due to operating constraints are focused more on effectively managing the top and bottom line of their businesses than they are on the technical elegance of how they operate their businesses. However, despite the focus on general business operations rather than technical implementations, mid-sized organizations have a strong interest in managing their businesses and utilizing all the resources at their disposal to drive revenue, lower costs and improve their margins. Show less

The world of Big Data is maturing at a dramatic pace and supporting many of the project activities, information users and financial sponsors that were once the domain of traditional structured data management projects. The 2013 EMA/9sight Big Data research makes a clear case for this maturation of Big Data as a critical approach for innovative companies. This year's survey went beyond simple questions of strategy, adoption and use to explore why and how companies are utilizing Big Data. This… Show more

The world of Big Data is maturing at a dramatic pace and supporting many of the project activities, information users and financial sponsors that were once the domain of traditional structured data management projects. The 2013 EMA/9sight Big Data research makes a clear case for this maturation of Big Data as a critical approach for innovative companies. This year's survey went beyond simple questions of strategy, adoption and use to explore why and how companies are utilizing Big Data. This year's findings show an increased level of Big Data sophistication between 2012 and 2013 respondents. Show less

In the Information Technology (IT) industry, 2012 has been the year of Big Data. From a standing start toward the end of the last decade, Big Data has become one of the most talked about topics in IT. There is hardly a vendor who does not have a solution or, at least, a go-to-market strategy. Beyond IT, even the financial and popular press discusses its merits and debates its drawbacks. And yet, the debate of exactly how to define Big Data remains. In this joint study between EMA’s Shawn… Show more

In the Information Technology (IT) industry, 2012 has been the year of Big Data. From a standing start toward the end of the last decade, Big Data has become one of the most talked about topics in IT. There is hardly a vendor who does not have a solution or, at least, a go-to-market strategy. Beyond IT, even the financial and popular press discusses its merits and debates its drawbacks. And yet, the debate of exactly how to define Big Data remains. In this joint study between EMA’s Shawn Rogers and John Myers, and 9sight Consulting’s Dr Barry Devlin, respondents clearly indicated that their Big Data solutions range far beyond social media and machine-generated data to include all types of traditional transactional business data. Show less