The rise of Big Data has arguably improved business efficiency. It has also seeped into our everyday lives. Timo Elliott, innovation evangelist for SAP SE, spoke with Jeff Frick, cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during MIT CDO Forum West, sponsored by SAP and Intel, on Big Data’s influence on our industry and culture.

“One of the easiest things we can do in our organizations is help people learn how to use data more intelligently,” said Elliott.

This ocean of data opens up new challenges around governance, regulations and ethics. While we’re in Big Data’s early days, the CDOs and other tech leaders must meet them early and head-on.

“One of the problems with data is your most embarrassing secrets are always stored in a database somewhere,” said Elliott. “It’s just waiting for somebody to pay attention or by accident to reveal that information when you don’t want them to.”

A right to transparency

Frick asked, “Considering the rapid pace of technology, how can laws keep up?” Frick noted that Europe has made great strides in addressing data privacy issues.

“One of the basic principles is that you have a right to transparency,” said Elliott. “In Europe, if I want to download everything that Facebook has on me, I can request that information, and that data has to be made available. I can at least see what people are doing with my data.”

Elliott advises companies to take a simple ethical approach when considering data usage. “If you are doing things that you would be ashamed of if your customers found out about how you were using that information, that’s probably a good sign you shouldn’t be doing it,” he said.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of MIT CDO West.

Photo by SiliconANGLE