"Big Data requires big change," said Fates, who specializes in early-stage technology companies as a partner at Ascent Venture Partners. He stressed that Big Data "” which most commonly refers to the increasing volume and variety (both structured and unstructured) of the data produced by social media, mobile devices, the Internet, and interconnected machines "” "is not a magic bullet. There's no pixie dust you can sprinkle and suddenly you'll have new insight. And the change has to be driven from the top down."
In fact, many companies are drowning in the current data explosion and will have to adjust their internal processes before they can begin to make sense of it all.
"A number of things get in the way of taking advantage of Big Data," said Fates. One factor he noted is a lack of enterprise commitment. "Is it a company priority?" he asked. It needs to be if behaviors are going to change."
