Successful digital businesses know that it’s important to collect and manage their Big Data needs, but how do they separate the vital data from the incidental?

To share some insight on this subject, Doug Laney, research VP and analyst at Gartner, Inc., and Cortnie Abercrombie, emerging roles and markets leader at IBM, joined Dave Vellante of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s Media team, at MIT CDOIQ 2015.

The conversation started with a question about the value of data. Companies have different ways of valuing data, but many have little understanding of their data and what its importance might be. A useful way to solve this issue is to create an index by which to measure the potential value of data.

Finding the value in the numbers

According to Laney and Abercrombie, companies have discovered that extracting the value from their data can be quite a challenge. In part, this is because changing a business to work with Big Data and analytics is as much a social transformation as it is technical. To be successful in this change, companies must unite behind a common vision that inspires all involved.

The key is infonomics, the practice of establishing metrics to measure the quality of data. Managing data through infonomics must be considered as necessary as managing any other vital business asset.

From theory to implementation

The financial cost of putting proper data management into place is high, but the value of quality data can easily outweigh those costs. In the same way that businesses invest in their other assets, they must invest in their data, according to Laney and Abercrombie.

The best way of doing this is to use a combination approach. First, companies need a visionary plan that everyone can follow. Then, they must use a strong infonomics structure to measure and prove the value of their data. Only by applying a consistent set of value metrics can a company ensure data quality.

Watch the full video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of MITCDOIQ Symposium 2015.

Photo by SiliconANGLE