Organizational Sensemaking and Big Data Frames: Opportunity, Control, and Data Limitation

Like many organizations, electricity service providers (utilities) are facing a new era of big data as a result of the emerging smart grid. To date, much focus in practice and research has been placed on developing technical and analytical capabilities necessary for big data, with little consideration given to their organizational implications. This paper brings a theoretical perspective to understanding the implications of big data for organizations. It presents the results of a grounded study examining how one utility was able to successfully deploy smart meters and take advantage of big data. Drawing on the perspective of organizational sense making, we identify three new frames -- opportunity, control, and data limitation -- which enable utilities to effectively take advantage of big data.