[Report] What Do We Do With All This Big Data? Fostering Insight and Trust in the Digital Age

1. Preview Only A Market Definition Report What Do We Do with All This Big Data? Fostering Insight and Trust in the Digital Age January 21, 2015 By Susan Etlinger Edited by Rebecca Lieb

2. Preview Only Introduction Every day, we hear new stories about data: how much there is, how fast it moves, how it’s used for good or ill. Data ubiquity affects our businesses, our educational and legal systems, our society, and increasingly, our dinner-table conversation. I had the opportunity to speak at TED@IBM in San Francisco on September 23, 2014, about the implications of a data-rich world, and what we can do as businesspeople, citizens, and consumers, to use it to our best advantage.1 That talk, as well as this document, examines two themes that underlie many conversations about data and technology that correspond to fears that George Orwell and Aldous Huxley chronicled in their novels 1984 and Brave New World. As the culture critic Neil Postman put it in his 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture.2 These two themes—irrelevance and narcissism on one hand (Huxley) and surveillance and power on the other (Orwell)—anticipate modern fears about the explosion of data in our personal and professional lives. As individuals, we crave insight and convenience, yet we simultaneously fear loss of control over our privacy and our digital identities.

3. Preview Only Susan Etlinger speaking at TED@IBM at SFJAZZ, San Francisco, California, September 23, 2014. Photo: Daniel K. Davis/TED

4. Preview Only Executive Summary This document proposes an approach to better understand and address: • How we extract insight from data • How we use data in such a way as to earn and protect trust: the trust of customers, constituents, patients, and partners To be clear, these twin challenges of insight and trust will occupy data scientists, engineers, analysts, ethicists, linguists, lawyers, social scientists, journalists, and, of course, the public for many years to come. To derive insight from data while protecting and sustaining trust with communities, organizations must think deeply about how they source and analyze it and clarify and communicate their roles as stewards of increasingly revealing information. This is only a first step, but it’s a critical one if we are to derive sustainable advantage from data, big and small. Table of Contents What’s So Hard About Big Data? ....................................................................................................................................... 5 6 With Big Data, Size Isn’t Everything ............................................................................................................................... 8 Unstructured Data Demands New Analytical Approaches ........................................................................................ 10 Traditional Methodologies Must Adapt ........................................................................................................................ From Data to Insight.............................................................................................................................................................................. 13 14 Big Data Requires Linguistic Expertise ......................................................................................................................... 14 Big Data Requires Expertise in Data Science and Critical Thinking ......................................................................... Legal and Ethical Issues of Big Data................................................................................................................................. 17 Planning for Data Ubiquity............................................................................................................................................................. 21 23 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................................................

5. Preview Only What’s So Hard About Big Data? 5

6. Preview Only To download this report in full at no cost, please visit our website at: http://pages.altimetergroup.com/what-do-we-do-with-all-this-big-data-report.html 6

7. Preview Only About Us Susan Etlinger, Industry Analyst Altimeter is a research and consulting firm that helps companies understand and act on technology disruption. We give business leaders the insight and confidence to help their companies thrive in the face of disruption. In addition to publishing research, Altimeter Group analysts speak and provide strategy consulting on trends in leadership, digital transformation, social business, data disruption and content marketing strategy. Susan Etlinger is an industry analyst at Altimeter Group, where she works with global organizations to develop data and analytics strategies that support their business objectives. Susan has a diverse background in marketing and strategic planning within both corporations and agencies. She’s a frequent speaker on social data and analytics and has been extensively quoted in outlets, including Fast Company, BBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Find her on Twitter at @setlinger and at her blog, Thought Experiments, at susanetlinger.com. Rebecca Lieb, Industry Analyst Rebecca Lieb (@lieblink) covers digital advertising and media, encompassing brands, publishers, agencies and technology vendors. In addition to her background as a marketing executive, she was VP and editor-in-chief of the ClickZ Network for over seven years. She’s written two books on digital marketing: The Truth About Search Engine Optimization (2009) and Content Marketing(2011). Rebecca blogs at www.rebeccalieb.com/blog. Altimeter Group 1875 S Grant St #680 San Mateo, CA 94402 info@altimetergroup.com www.altimetergroup.com @altimetergroup 650.212.2272 How to Work with Us Altimeter Group research is applied and brought to life in our client engagements. We help organizations understand and take advantage of digital disruption. There are several ways Altimeter can help you with your business initiatives: • Strategy Consulting.Altimeter creates strategies and plans to help companies act on disruptive business and technology trends. Our team of analysts and consultants works with senior executives, strategists .and marketers on needs assessment, strategy roadmaps, and pragmatic recommendations across disruptive trends. • Education and Workshops. Engage an Altimeter speaker to help make the business case to executives or arm practitioners with new knowledge and skills. • Advisory. Retain Altimeter for ongoing research-based advisory: conduct an ad-hoc session to address an immediate challenge; or gain deeper access to research and strategy counsel. To learn more about Altimeter’s offerings, contact sales@altimetergroup.com. 7