Big Data and Hype: Where Are We Now?

At this point, many of us have heard a few success stories related to Big Data:

• Netflix uses a fascinating pastiche of information to predict movie preferences.
• Target knew about a teenager's pregnancy before her own father did.

But are most everyday business users and organizations really doing anything with Big Data? I've been saying for years that the hype exceeds the reality. I was curious to see if that remained the case at the Evanta CIO Summit in Phoenix, AZ. (I spoke there and participated in a roundtable about the adoption of Big Data—or lack thereof.) If the attendees I met served as a representative sample, it's clear to me that we are still in the early innings. As for why this is the case, allow me to posit a few reasons.