April Managing Editor George Hill President Josie King Head of Advertising Pip Curtis Marketing Deanna Notice Content Editor Chris Palmer

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2 1 April 2013 Managing Editor George Hill President Josie King Head of Advertising Pip Curtis Marketing Deanna Notice Content Editor Chris Palmer Editorial Board & Contributors Tom Deutsch Chris Towers David Barton Damien Demaj Randy Bean Paul Barth Heather James Katie Bilton Jing Jia Content, Contribution and General Enquiries Distribution Advertising Are you interested in advertising in future issues of Big Data Innovation? Contact Pip Curtis for more details:

3 2 CONTENTS Big Data Goes Quantum - p.4 Chris Towers looks at what effect quantum computing will have on Big Data in the future Big Data in Corporate America - p.8 Randy Bean and Paul Barth share the results of a recent survey around big data usage in US corporations The Day Data in Healthcare Went Big - p.11 David Barton looks at February 19, the day that big data went big in healthcare How Real is the Big Data Gap? - p.14 Tom Deutsch investigates the big data skills gap and whether it exists Big Data in Tennis - p.16 Damien Demaj using spatial analytics to investigate the Andy Murray vs Roger Federer Olympics final Interview With Simon Thompson - p.21 George Hill speaks to BT s head researcher about the changing role of data in companies and how it s best utilized HAVE AN IDEA? What would you like to see our writers covering or do you have any innovative Big data articles that you want to contribute? For more information contact George at ghill@theiegroup.com WANT TO SEE YOURSELF HERE? We have several advertising opportunities available to cater to all budgets and can offer bespoke packages to suit you and your business. Contact Pip at pcurtis@theiegroup.com for more information. LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to this issue of Big Data Innovation. The pace of growth in big data has not relented as we have moved further into 2013, and predictions that growth would slow seem to have been wide of the mark. This is great, because all of us here still think that this is one of the fastest growing and innovative industries to be a part of. In this issue we discuss the ways in which big data could change in the future, with a special editorial discussing various possibilities in addition to Chris Towers looking at the role that quantum computing may play in the future of data collection and analysis. Tom Deutsch also gives us an in depth industry perspective on how the perceived skills gap is affecting the industry. Randy Bean and Paul Barth also release the findings from their recent big data survey. With Big Data moving increasingly into varied usages, Damien Demaj also breaks down the data he collected using Spatio-Temporal collection during the Andy Murray and Roger Federer gold medal match during the olympics. All this, plus an interview with Simon Thompson make this a great edition. We hope you enjoy this issue and if you like it, share it! GEORGE HILL CHIEF EDITOR

4 8 Big Data in Corporate America: A Current State View The results suggest that Big Data has arrived prising multiple divisions, operating globally ommentary on the topic of Big Data can as well as nationally, and serving many markets be found far and wide these days. Howevand customer constituencies. er, it was barely 24 months ago when the term The results suggest that Big Data has arrived was largely unknown to business and technoland is being tested and is in use at major organogy executives alike. Data was often viewed as izations. 85 percent of the respondents have a a domain inhabited by PhD statisticians, combig Data initiative planned or in progress, and puter scientists and market researchers, despite almost half are using Big Data in some type of Fortune 1000 corporations and Federal agencies production/operational capacity, ranghaving engaged in data-driven activities such as ing from production reporting to analytics, predictive modeling, database mar24/7 mission-critical applicaketing and business intelligence for the bet85% of tions. For these organizations, ter part of several decades. respondents have Big Data offers the promise of In response to this surge of interest, we a big data initiative improved data-driven decisought to ask the most senior executive sion-making. planned or decision-makers C-suite and funcin progress tional business line heads -- with Why Big Data? Why Now? direct responsibility, ownerthe primary reason senior decision ship and influence on data 25% of makers gave for investing in Big Data initiatives and investments respondents is to improve their organization s analytics for Fortune 1000 firms and employ over 500 capabilities and make smarter business defederal agencies. The surcisions. Most respondents cited the ability to analysts vey was conducted during integrate and analyze a wide variety of data as the summer of 2012, with folthe primary value of big data platforms. They low on detailed discussions and are using big data to address significant gaps in briefings taking place through the accessing relevant data and developing analytic end of the year. skills. Over half the respondents rate their acthe result is our summary report, Big Data Execcess to relevant, accurate and timely data as less utive Survey 2013, which reflect the perspectives than adequate and only 21.3% rank their comof more than 50 senior business and technology pany s analytic capabilities as more than adeexecutives representing Fortune 1000 corporate quate or world class. America and large Government agencies, comwhether they rank their current analytics capabilities as minimal or as world class, all respondents are looking for Big Data to have a major impact on their business. Advanced com 85 percent of the panies with large analytic staffs (over 25 percent of respondents have over 500 data miners and respondents have a Big Data analysts) are seeking to push the productivity of these teams with advanced tools and automation, initiative planned or in while less mature companies hope to use big data progress to leapfrog their capabilities to get to parity. Most are Exploring, But Some Leaders are C

5 9 Emerging While most organizations have begun allocating exploratory budgets for exploration and growth, some leaders are making a major commitment to Big Data. About a quarter of the companies are spending under one million dollars annually to evaluate Big Data, while half are launching preliminary solutions with budgets between one and ten million dollars. A quarter of the respondents are committed, spending more than $10 million on Big Data this year, with some projecting spending over $100 million annually within 3 years. For half the respondents, this is an incremental spend and could be just the beginning for increased Big Data budgets as, on average, each respondent will spend more than $13.5 million annually on Big Data in 3 years. Fulfilling the Promise of Big Data It is important to put Big Data into proper perspective. There is a distinction between what s going on in Corporate America today and the experience of, and initiatives underway at, companies that were born into Big Data, like Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, ebay, Yahoo, and other companies that have powerful Big Data efforts underway, but have never faced the challenge of dealing with older legacy data and systems. Big Data should not be viewed as a panacea. The promise of Big Data has 25% of been an emerging theme respondents are in recent years, yet companies have been try- spending over $10 ing to leverage data to million on Big Data gain critical insights and in 2013 help improve their businesses for decades. Some of the tools and capabilities are new, and certainly the economics of accessing and managing data have improved, but many of the challenges remain the same. Big Data presents organizations with new capabilities for driving business value, but realizing the potential will only come with careful formulation of sound strategies accompanied by thoughtful execution plans. NewVantage Partners Executive Survey, and our resulting discussions with firms that are at the forefront and in the mainstream of corporate Big Data initiatives, have highlighted both the opportunity, as well as the challenges that lie ahead. About the Authors Paul Barth, PhD, and Randy Bean, are managing partners at NewVantage Partners. PAUL BARTH & RANDY BEAN CONTRIBUTORS