Is there a place for small organizations in the world of big data? Can small businesses take advantage of this ‘big data’ stuff?  Are small business’ data-sets even large enough to be considered ‘big data’?

While I’m happy about the outcome of that post, I’m actually a bit embarrassed that I didn’t address an even bigger question that should be the first question asked when talking about “big data”.

That question is this: What does “big” mean?

According to a report published by the IBM Institute for Business Value in conjunction with the Said Business School at the University of Oxford, over half of respondents to a survey think that the ‘big’ in big data refers to the size of the dataset and that size lays somewhere between a terabyte and a petabyte of data. That’s quite large and is a good definition of ‘big’.

So…rather than ask the questions that I previously asked about there being a place in Big Data for small business, the more appropriate first question could  have been – How “big” is “big”?  And then, if ‘big’ is actually relative, are the skills needed for big data the same regardless of size of data?

Big IS relative.  A terabyte of data to a large organization may be very simple to analyze using available tool-sets while the same size of data may be a complete impossibility for a small business to collect – let alone analyze. A terabyte of data for a $1Billion company could be relatively the same size as a gigabyte of data is to a $100Million company.

Regardless of the numerical size of ‘big’ in the big data, the skill sets for analyzing that data remain the same. A small business may only have a 500 megabyte data-set, but the analytical process to find the knowledge in that data is the same as if that data-set was 500 terabytes.  Some of the tools may be different, but the process remains the same.

For any organization, the process of ‘doing’ big data is relatively the same. Everyone is looking for knowledge in data. A large organization may have a team of 20 people working on big data and have millions of dollars invested in tools, systems and process for analyzing that data.  This large organization might have a whole team of people that focus strictly on the operations of big data and another team focus on analyzing and visualizing this data.  At the same time, a small business might only have one person looking at data in their spare time using a combination of excel and other non-specialized tools.  While one organization has a large number of resources available to spend on big data and the other has very few resources, both approach the process the same…collect, verify, compare, contextualize, analyze and use the data.  Then repeat.

The previously mentioned IBM Report, titled Analytics: The real-world use of big data, has this to say about the ‘process’ of big data:

The promise of achieving significant, measurable business value from big data can only be realized if organizations put into place an information foundation that supports the rapidly growing volume, variety and velocity of data.

Well said. This sentence delivers a great deal of value to any organization.

Regardless of the ‘volume’ of data, the foundational aspects of collecting and storing data are key. Whether multi-terabytes or multi-megabytes of storage is required, the underlying principles are the same. Data needs to be collected, stored and prepared for analysis.

Regardless of size of organization or data-set, the process of ‘doing’ big data remains the same: collect, verify, compare, contextualize, analyze and use the data. Repeat as necessary.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Captured with Canon 7D and Canon 400mm 5.6 L Handheld

See more photos in my flickr photostream and/or my Zenfolio portfolio (where you can buy images). If you like my photography, feel free to support my addiction habit by visiting Adorama (affiliate link) to purchase new or used photographic gear. Or, if you are interested in renting gear before buying, try out my favorite camera, lens and gear rental site -  Borrowlenses.com (affiliate link) - the folks at Borrowlenses are awesome.  All proceeds from clicking the above affiliate links go to more photographs. 

Captured this gull with a Canon 40D and Canon 100-400 L handheld.

See more photos in my flickr photostream and/or my Zenfolio portfolio (where you can buy images). If you like my photography, feel free to support my addiction habit by visiting Adorama (affiliate link) to purchase new or used photographic gear. Or, if you are interested in renting gear before buying, try out my favorite camera, lens and gear rental site -  Borrowlenses.com (affiliate link) - the folks at Borrowlenses are awesome.  All proceeds from clicking the above affiliate links go to more photographs. 

EXIF: 1/500, ƒ/8, ISO 400, 400 mm

See more photos in my flickr photostream and/or my Zenfolio portfolio (where you can buy images). If you like my photography, feel free to support my addiction habit by visiting Adorama (affiliate link) to purchase new or used photographic gear. Or, if you are interested in renting gear before buying, try out my favorite camera, lens and gear rental site -  Borrowlenses.com (affiliate link) - the folks at Borrowlenses are awesome.  All proceeds from clicking the above affiliate links go to more photographs. 

Exif: 1/250, ƒ/7.1, ISO 400, 400 mm

And as many types of coffee, there are just as many ways to make coffee.  Drip. French Press. Instant. Percolator. Etc etc.

For the purposes of this post, let’s look at three ways of making coffee:

1. Buy a can of Folgers, dump the coffee into a drip coffee maker. Brew. Drink.
2. Buy a pre-packaged coffee (Keurig, etc) . Stick a ‘pod/cup’ into the maker…make coffee.
3. Buy whole bean coffee, grind it yourself every morning before brewing. Put it in a French Press. Boil Water to 199 degrees exactly.  Slowly pour heated water over grounds. Stir slowly. Let simmer for a few minutes.  Press the grounds out. Pour coffee. Drink. Enjoy a great cup of Joe.

Now…I’m not going to say which method is best…but a good cup of coffee made via French Press is hard to beat. If you like good coffee…try Method #3. If you want the cheapest coffee method, go for #1…it’s drinkable but not memorable.  Method #2 provides a decent cup of coffee and is relatively cheap and easy, but not always memorable.

Of course, there are other approaches to making coffee….but going into them will just confuse all of us…because this isn’t really about making coffee…its about building and leading a team of people.

In my experience, the majority of folks in the world of business take an approach to team building and leadership similar to Method #1 above. They take the ‘prepackaged’ approach by looking for the most cost effective approach to every problem while ignoring (or minimizing) quality. These folks build average teams and deliver average services / products to their clients. There are some leaders out there that are able to take approach #1 to build a quality team that builds / delivers quality products and services, but on average, most leaders taking this approach build teams that aren’t memorable.

There are other leaders who take the pre-packaged approach in method 2. They hire consultants as a ‘team’ to come in and build something. When that team is done…they move on. Then…another team has to be brought in to build something.   Rinse. Repeat.    Team A comes in, does X and leaves. Team B comes in, does Y and leaves.  Just like discarding the pre-packaged coffee pod after one use, these teams can be discarded upon completion. Knowledge transfer occurs at times..but other times it doesn’t.  Most times, these teams do good work…but something is lost over time. With this approach, the leader is able to keep an eye on costs and quality but over time they start to lose the ability to really understand what has been done and how its been done.

Then…there are the leaders that build  a team following an approach similar to method #3.  They find the best people they can find. They pay for those people. They take the time to prepare those people for their jobs and give them plenty of support. They monitor their teams to ensure things are moving along properly and do whatever they can do to help each employee reach their fullest potential. They provide feedback and motivation for these teams and watch as they build great products and services. These teams are the memorable teams that build memorable products and services.

There are times when each approach is valid of course. Sometimes you don’t know the ‘best’…sometimes you just need someone to make sure the lights are kept on…but if you are trying to build a team for the long haul – and one that you can use to beat your competition – you’d better be looking at an approach similar to the French Press approach.

To make a good cup of coffee, you need to focus on quality and preparatione.  To build a good team…focus on the same things. You’ll make a memorable cup of coffee – and a build a great team.

Image Credit: French Press Coffee I on flickr

The chat was sponsored by Dell and their Chief Innovation Officer Jim Stikeleather (‏@stikeyoda) joined the conversation and provided some excellent insight and feedback on the topic of innovation and the CIO / IT group.

The prepared questions for the chat were:

• 1. How is your role as CIO evolving? How much of what you do today revolves around the business and innovation?
• 2. What conversation is the C-suite having around innovation? How does that conversation need to change?
• 3. When it comes to innovation, how are IT investment decisions made? Is value creation for the customer a driver?
• 4. How is IT enabling customer value with technology? How are you delivering & keeping up with the tech behind innovation?

The chat was sort of a last minute idea but I think it turned out well.

We had a number of folks join the chat and had some great conversations on the topic of innovation and the role of the IT group and CIO in driving / managing innovation.

In addition to Jim’s input, we had some other great folks join in on the chat including:

• Kelli Gizzi ‏@kelligizzi
• Elliot Ross ‏@elliotross
• Charles Araujo ‏@charlesaraujo
• Bryan Oak ‏@LIBACAS
• Peter Kretzman ‏@PeterKretzman
• Paul Calento ‏@pcalento
• Bob Egan @bobegan
• Andy Fields ‏@PainPoint

Jump over and follow these folks if you don’t already…they are great follows. Apologies for those folks that I missed

As mentioned, the chat was lively and informative with great conversations and insights.

One of the main questions that hit home with me was how deeply CIO’s are involved with innovation.  One question from Bryan Oak stands out in this regard. It is :

#CIOInnovate Q2 I’m not sure that many CIOs are talking Innovation ?

— Bryan Oak (@LIBACAS) April 30, 2013

It was a great question.

Are CIO’s talking about innovation?

I know some that are…and many that aren’t.  Many are trying to just keep things running while others have been able to get ahead of the curve and are looking for ways to help the organization innovate. A few CIO’s that I know are the driving force for innovation within the organization.

While I haven’t exactly pinpointed the ‘one thing’ that makes the difference in IT groups that are operationally focused versus those that are more strategically focus, I do believe one aspect that makes a difference is the ability of the CIO to step away from the ‘operations’ and start focusing on the big picture. But…how does a CIO make that happen? That’s the question of the day….it requires a more strategic ability and capability.  It requires the organization to allow them to focus on providing services rather than being a tool to ‘get things done’.

For the CIO to be involved in innovation, they and the IT Group need to turn themselves into consultants to the business. They’ve got to be the folks that people come to for advice…not just a team of people that implement and manage technology.  The CIO of the future needs to not only be the chief information officer, but the chief innovation officer and chief technology officer with a little bit of chief marketing technology officer rolled into one.  No longer can the CIO sit in the data center and watch bits and bytes – they’ve got to lead the organization into the future with innovative technology and services.

When you get a a chance, check out the #CIOInnovate stream….you’ll see some very smart folks talking about some of the most important topics that CIO’s are facing today.

It was a great hour long chat about some very interesting topics…I’ll be looking for more opportunities to have more of these conversations in the future.

While most BYOD discussions revolve around security practices,some really good conversations are beginning around the use of virtualization techniques to allow BYOD to flourish while keeping a tight control over security and data.

I recently spoke with the CIO of a small organization who undertook an office-wide virtualization project. The project was not started strictly for BYOD assistance but the IT group quickly realized they would be able to manage BYOD issues much more easily with virtualization.

Rather than roll-out new desktop hardware to the organization as planned, the CIO had a conversation with the people within the organization. He asked if they“would you like to bring your own computer in”? The majority said they would. So the CIO did something quite interesting. He took the budget for new desktop hardware and rolled the majority of that money into his virtualization project while keeping some available for hardware refreshes for some of the employees that didn’t have their own computers or didn’t want to bring those computers in.

With this new budget, the CIO implemented a centralized system using Dell’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to build out an office wide virtualization solution. Using best practices for security and management processes, he then allowed his users to begin to connect via Thin Client / Terminal Services to the server to access their ‘workspace’. This added an additional benefit to the organization as it also allowed employees to access their ‘workspace’ from home or while traveling, thereby increasing productivity.

Additionally, the IT group configured the network so that the employees could still use their own devices to access the Internet while still being connected to their virtual workspace. This allowed employees to feel a bit less ‘controlled’ because they could surf during their downtime on their own devices.

For those users that didn’t have their own computers at home (or weren’t willing to bring them in), the CIO purchased new hardware. Rather than going for the top-line hardware as he normally would have, he purchased more economical machines for most employees.  He was able to take some of that cost savings and purchase a few higher-end machines for the developers on-staff. Additionally, he picked up some dedicated thin-client devices.

The one drawback to this approach, according to the CIO, has been the increased requests for support for employee provided computers. While he and the IT group have tried to be responsive and solve whatever problems they can, they’ve had to push back a bit and ask the employees to contact the vendors they purchased their computer from.

This virtualization project has delivered a few benefits that the CIO hadn’t initially considered. For one, he saved money in the short-term and long-term by saving on desktop hardware costs and IT support costs for that desktop hardware. Additionally, the IT group was able to find savings in time and operational activities due to the centralized nature of the virtualized systems. Rather than spending time upgrading software and hardware on multiple computers and in multiple locations, IT staff was now able to maintain just one set of applications and one main server.

The initial outlay of capital for the VDI approach was significant, but the CIO was able to show his board that the initial investment would pay for itself many times over in cost savings from IT support and savings from not purchasing new desktop hardware.

As the next step in this project the CIO and CEO have been looking at ways to provide a stipend to employees who bring their own devices. The stipend isn’t large but does provide something to the employees for their interest in using their own devices. Additionally, a project has been undertaken to build an intranet site to provide more support for those employees bringing their own devices by point users to good information on the web for support.

This roll-out is about a year into its existence and so far it has been working well. Most employees are happy with their ability to bring their own device – whether that device is a Mac, Windows or Linux laptop or a tablet of their choice.

While virtualization may not be the only answer for the BYOD challenges, its one approach that worked for one organization and continues to work for them.

Image Credit: byod (Taken with my android…) on flickr

This is a paid post in conjunction with IDG, Dell and Intel®.