There’s no question that Big Data is reshaping the business world. Every day, more companies are jumping on the Big Data bandwagon. It has become more important than ever for businesses to collect and manage their information. What, though, is this new technology actually doing for business? What are companies getting out of Big Data, and what does the future hold?

To answer these questions, a panel of expert analysts came together during the BigDataSV 2016 event in San Jose, California, where theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, is celebrating #BigDataWeek, including news and events from the #StrataHadoop conference. The panel included Mike Gualtieri, principal analyst at Forrester Research, Inc.; Tony Baer, principal analyst of Ovum (part of the Informa Group); and George Gilbert (@ggilbert41), Big Data and analytics analyst for Wikibon. The panel was moderated by Peter Burris (@plburris), cohost of theCUBE and chief research officer of SiliconANGLE Media.

The rise of data

The panel opened up with a look at how data has risen to a first-class citizen. It was clear this new status opened up some issues. As Baer said, a company needs to know what’s in its data and must have confidence that information is protected and managed. The business has to have a clear idea of how the data gives them a competitive advantage.

Gualtieri then explained there are four types of insights a company can draw from data: strategic, business performance, operational and real time. A business, he said, needs analytics to bring out these insights.

Unlocking the future

Gilbert then summed up the purpose of all this data, saying companies can’t anticipate, influence or guide customer interaction unless they have a predictive model. This model comes from data analytics. Baer agreed, pointing out that integrating analytics with the customer transaction isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.

This need for speed reveals a danger, however. An audience member asked how a company should deal with the quality of real-time data? Baer responded, saying while traditional analytics needs watertight data, and exploratory analytics can miss some information, with real-time data a company has to take into account the source when considering quality.

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