Big Data: Why IT pros need to talk less tech to get it on the boardroom agenda

IT professionals need to change the way they position Big Data to business decision makers, by focusing discussions on the bottom line benefits rather than the technology.

That was one of the key themes of Dennis Business Media's (a joint event for Cloud Pro, IT Pro and PC Pro) Big Data or Bust roundtable breakfast briefing this week.

Hosted in association with Intel, the event brought together expert speakers and IT decision makers for a lively debate on the topic of information analytics and best practice.

Speaking at the event, Ray Ford, CTO of vehicle replacement service Accident Exchange, said Big Data has the potential to bring huge business benefits, but IT departments must be mindful of how they position the concept to secure it a place on the boardroom agenda.

For example, trying to blind people with science by focusing on the technology side of things is not the way to go, he advised.

"Big Data, whether you like it or not, isn't sexy. If you walk into a room and try to sell a Big Data project by talking about noughts and ones and how many calculations you can do in seconds, you're going to get nowhere," said Ford.

"What people want is the results right there and then, very quick and nicely presented."

The difficulty is, given the growing amounts of data companies have to wade through, it's not always possible to know before a project is undertaken exactly what information will prove useful. And if ultimately it will have a positive impact on the business bottom line, Ford admits.

Intel's view of the Big Data era

Stuart Dommett, IT evangelist and head of UK business marketing at Intel, also attended Big Data or Bust. He tells us why now is an exciting time for the IT industry.

"We've seen two industrial revolutions, and we believe we're now in a third, which is the information age. And what we're seeing is businesses are under going a lot of change at the moment.

"So when we look at the third industrial revolution, we think there are a number of things to consider and they're coming together as a real force of nature, and they are social, mobile, analytics and cloud.

"They're all intertwining at the moment, which is radically changing what's happening in the world. "So when we talk about Big Data, we're really talking about analytics and the ability to analyse on the fly what's happening."

For this reason he thinks it's imperative that IT departments work closely with the other parts of the business to ascertain the true value of the data they have.

"The biggest problem for any business is the people who know the data never get asked how we can contribute to the business bottom line," he said.

"We have regular meetings where we get the people who know what [data] we've got to challenge the people who think they know what we've got."

To ascertain the value of the data it has, his company sometimes undertakes small-scale analytics projects, using the data at its disposal for R&D purposes before embarking on a major deployment.

"It's easy to get carried away with technology, but there's no point if it doesn't benefit the bottom line," explained Ford.

This was a sentiment echoed by Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at market watcher Quocirca, during his presentation.

"There is no point collecting data if it doesn't have a use or a positive outcome for the business. It's a great way of spending money on IT, but that's all it is," said Bamforth.

"I certainly encountered people doing lots of stuff with data, but the critical thing is, is it having an impact?"