Big data for business managers — Bridging the gap between potential and value

Given the surge of interest in research, publication and application on Big Data over the last few years, the potential of Big Data seems to be well-established now across businesses. However, in most of the business implementations Big Data still seem to be struggling to deliver the promised value (ROI). Such results despite using the market leading Big Data solutions and talented deployment team are forcing the business managers to think what needs to be done differently. This paper lays down the framework for business managers to understand Big Data processes. Besides providing a business overview of Big Data core components, the paper presents several questions that the managers must ask to assess the effectiveness of their Big Data processes. This paper is based on the analysis of several Big Data projects that never delivered and comparison against successful ones. The hypothesis is developed based on public information and is proposed as the first step for business managers keen on effectively leveraging Big Data.