The Cube is providing continuous coverage of EMC World 2012 being held in Las Vegas May 21 – 24. The Cube’s Dave Vellante sat down with Bill Schmarzo, CTO Enterprise Information Management and Analytics, EMC. Schmarzo said two activities at EMC World are consuming his time – speaking to analysts and speaking to customers. According to Schmarzo, the analysts he has spoken with have different perspectives about big data. Analysts more focused on data sciences report market enthusiasm about the ability to tap into new data sources and discover new market opportunities. However, analysts from the traditional business intelligence space report a significant amount of market uncertainty about big data and the new tools like HBase and Hadoop that have emerged to support it.

Schmarzo said he has also observed the angst from technology leaders afraid of making a bad decision regarding big data. Many times these leaders are so concerned with making a misstep that they become completely paralyzed and do nothing. Schmarzo continued by saying, “Many are more focused on making mistakes than on making game changing moves.” Dave Vellante supported his assessment adding, “The new big data culture has to be a let’s try it culture. You’re going to get it wrong.”

Schmarzo and Vellante went on to discuss the trend of companies attempting to create long-term big data strategies. Both agreed that this is somewhat a wasted effort. The market is simply moving too fast and evolving too significantly to allow planning three years or five years out. The market in three years will likely be radically different from the market today. When asked how he advises companies on getting started with a big data strategy, Schmarzo said he encourages companies to just stick their foot in the water – pick a business problem and then understand how new data sources and technologies like Hadoop can help uncover new insights that will help drive business value. Start with one problem and evolve gradually.

Schmarzo continued to explain that although Hadoop is wildly popular big data does not equal Hadoop. A richer ecosystem of tools exists to help businesses meet their goals. Hadoop does what it does well, but there are many more options available. Companies need to understand what they are attempting to accomplish and then select the right tools to help them meet their goals. Companies need to think holistically about their big data architecture.

The discussion concluded with an examination of the disconnect between the traditional business intelligence market and the new world of big data. In many ways, the business intelligence market is about looking back. Schmarzo said that although some see business intelligence as a failure, the technology accomplished what it was designed for. However, modern businesses require more real-time and predictive analytics and the capability to access external and unstructured data sources something that business intelligence is well suited for.