- Big Data Week highlights need for business to better analyse the data at their disposal
- Businesses warned to be diligent about how they use the data they have access to
- Corporate culture needs to change to harness power of big data
Organisations need to avoid over-analysing the data on their doorstep if they are going to reap the true benefits of ‘big data’, according to KPMG Management Consulting.
‘Big Data’ is rapidly becoming the 2012 corporate must-have, as it offers massive opportunities to gather real-time intelligence and drive product or service delivery decisions. However, the volume of information generated on a minute-by-minute basis presents the genuine danger of companies spending their time focusing on the data itself, and missing out on the business improvements it can bring.
Eddie Short, partner and head of business intelligence at KPMG Management Consulting, says: “Getting data use right and tapping into trends it can reveal can have enormous benefits. But it’s also easy to select the data that simply suits your own hypothesis, so ensuring other key members of the organisation support and validate your opinion is an important approach to using ‘big data’. The speed of change is massive and it’s easy to become mesmerised by the data itself and miss the need for a quick business decision or fast response to feedback.”
KPMG is also stressing a need for organisations to be diligent when sourcing free data. According to Eddie Short: “The audit process requires an understanding of where preferred sources are located, testing it and building rules to validate the way the data is used. A fair amount of this process will be based on rules already created for the use of existing, in-house data.”
“However, the rise of ‘big data’ may also lead to a change in corporate culture and even complete business models if businesses are to truly harness its power. Big data-driven organisations are often become more dynamic, innovative and, ultimately, more profitable. However, it’s not a simplistic process - businesses need to be prepared to make mistakes and kill-off products and services that aren’t working more quickly. If they can’t do that, they are unlikely to see a genuine gain from the benefits that big data can bring.”
Ends
Media enquiries:
Mike Petrook, KPMG Press Office
020 7311 5271 (t), 07917 384 576 (m) or
mike.petrook@kpmg.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
About KPMG
KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and operates from 22 offices across the UK with over 11,000 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a turnover of £1.7 billion in the year ended September 2011. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. We operate in 152 countries and have 145,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. KPMG International provides no client services.
