Big data and data science are becoming defining features of the business landscape. However, like any new area of technology, there are some rough edges. Data science, especially, suffers from a skill gap and shortage of talent, while big data is burdened with some arcane tools that are difficult to use. Solving these problems with collaboration and innovation is a priority in the data community.

To learn more efforts to smooth out these rough patches, Sam Kahane (@Sam_Kahane), from the SiliconANGLE Media team, visited the IBM DataFirst launch event in New York. There, he spoke to Dez Blanchfield, resident data scientist at The Bloor Group, and Nancy Hensley, director of Offering Management at IBM Corp.

An event for big data networking

The conversation started with the guests speaking about the conference. Blanchfield felt that events like DataFirst are enablers for big data practitioners to drive innovation and disruption together as a community. It’s a chance to take a breath of fresh air, share ideas, compare and network, he said.

Hensley mentioned the big news was around how people were putting data to work. For a long while, big data has been about collecting and storing information. Now, the community is working past that to find new ways to open up access to data, he explained.

Solving the analytics stack

One of those new ways to open up access to data is to deal with setting up stacks for big data analytics. Blanchfield explained that when someone wants to do a big data project, one of the first challenges is getting the technology stack. IBM has changed this by turning it into something like web mail, allowing companies to subscribe to the entire stack they need for data science, he said.

“We can stop worrying about the tech and start working on the problems we’re trying to solve,” Blanchfield said.

He then suggested for those interested in data science to get hands on, understand what data science means and pay attention to what IBM is doing with its approach. He stressed this is going to be a significant shift in how businesses approach big data and data science.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the IBM DataFirst Launch event.

Photo by SiliconANGLE