/ Twitter Round-Up: What big data isn’t, the un-technology of BI, and the abyss of information

“Big data” is on the move again in tech circles. In keeping with the Internet’s ability to repeat history in a breathtakingly short timeframe, the conversation around big data is going through an identity crisis that could signal either a renaissance or the public simply being “over” it. Business intelligence is going through similar throes of its own. But whichever way the hammer falls, pundits agree: there are plenty opportunities waiting to be seized.

“This is water.” – David Foster Wallace

This TechCrunch article reminds us that we are creating data simply by the act of conducting business. Every day that our proverbial doors are open, there’s something to measure. That makes all of us “big data companies,” whether we realize it or not.

According to the article, “There is a notion around cloud computing that companies born in the cloud have an advantage over those that are transitioning to the cloud because they have an acute understanding of how it works that a company moving to the cloud can’t possibly match. There is a similar idea of companies that are raised on using data to drive their company and those searching for ways to do that.

Panel member Barry Morris, founder and CEO at NuoDB, repeatedly brought up electric car maker Tesla as an example of a company that uses data as part of the act of doing business to make business decisions. There isn’t this deliberate process of trying to figure out how to use data. They just do it.”

Business Intelligence or Business Interpretation?

Ray Major, CEO of Halo Business Intelligence, reminds us in this two-minute video that business intelligence as a series of graphs and charts is virtually useless. It’s all about usability—can people understand what the data is really saying, and can they derive actionable insights from what their BI is telling them?

So in the end, BI has little to do with technology spitting out reports, and it has everything to do with the actions people can take as a result.

3 countries’ economies, in a quarter.

Microsoft hosted a 2014 SQL Server launch party in San Francisco, and they built an “infinity room” to demonstrate the power of information. This video is an excellent demonstration of what you’re really looking at when all you see is numb

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