As Big Data continues to gain prominence in enterprise and consumer realms, keeping pace with the ways in which it’s developing is a necessity for those hoping to remain relevant in the modern tech world.

In the last hours of BigDataSV 2016, where theCUBE is celebrating #BigDataWeek, including news and events from the #StrataHadoop conference, John Furrier (@furrier), Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick) and Peter Burris (@plburris), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, met up to break down the insights and choice quotes they’d gathered during their time at the event, as well as to lay out where things seem to be proceeding at this point.

Data-value and business

Burris started things off by establishing a grounded tone in his assessment that “this is a great event, there’s a lot happening, but we now need to begin elevating the conversation to: ‘How do we make this business?’” Frick agreed, referring to the vibe of the event, as he said, “You hear the themes bubble up; it becomes really simple, really clear. As Peter said, what is the value of the data?”

Frick continued by addressing some of the big talking points from the conference, in particular how “we’ve heard over and over how the cloud enables putting the data and the computing together,” and the innovations that are stemming from that union.

Furrier laid out a few aspects in which theCUBE is benefiting from the environment at industry events, saying, “We have support from the community, and that resonates.” He also looked at how public opinion is treating other companies; for example, the way that “IBM has transformed themselves into a forward-thinking company.”

Digital business

With the ways of handling business and data reaching more sophisticated forms, Furrier felt, “We’re starting to see … the path to digital business.”

Barris concurred, mentioning, “What we heard over and over … was: ‘How are we going to talk about the business outcomes, the business results, in a way that then turns into product and services?’… [and] ‘We need to bring simplification.’” Burris seemed cautiously optimistic, stating, “I still think people are searching for how it’s going to come together.”

As the conversation continued, Furrier touched on another major point, saying, “Still, the Holy Grail is the actionable insights … how do you deliver them, and what’s the endpoint?”

Frick dug into this topic by looking at the maturation of enterprise attitudes in handling major amounts of data, and noted, “The myth of pumping all the data into the lake and sprinkling some pixie dust … just doesn’t hold water. At the end of the day, it’s a tool.”

Tools and platforms

Managing data is becoming a large sector of the industry, but as every member of theCUBE team agreed, companies should be careful to put those tools to work in achieving their goals, rather than relying on the tools to provide a goal on their own. As Burris put it, “The reason why businesses are investing in this stuff is because it generates a return, and if it doesn’t, then they’re not going to invest.”

Burris also touched on something that seemed to be in low evidence at during #BigDataWeek, that being partnership explication and furtherance. “Where are the partnerships? Where are companies coming together with customers to say, ‘We’ve found a new way of making things happen’?”

Furrier had his own take on this, saying, “I think there’s a lot of [soft-hype] Barney deals, and Barney deals aren’t materializing in the real rubber hitting the road.” He added, “I think we have zombie leadership at some of the top companies here. … You don’t have leadership in a market that needs leadership. … You don’t have leadership, you don’t have growth.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of BigDataSV 2016. And make sure to weigh in during theCUBE’s live coverage at the event by joining in on CrowdChat.

Photo by SiliconANGLE