The payoff from joining the big-data and advanced-analytics management revolution is no longer in doubt. The tally of successful case studies continues to build, reinforcing broader research suggesting that when companies inject data and analytics deep into their operations, they can deliver productivity and profit gains that are 5 percent to 6 percent higher than those of the competition.

Big data may seem to promise big insights to users, but more isn't always better, cautions statistician Nate Silver, who became one of America's most well-known faces of data analysis after his FiveThirtyEight blog accurately predicted 2012 presidential election results in all 50 states.

The buzz surrounding big data shows no signs of slowing. But as federal government and industry take steps to harness big data one group is lagging behind - state and local government. According to a new report, "The State and Local Big Data Gap," state and local agencies need to double their storage and computational power, and triple their personnel to successfully leverage big data.

Analytics companies are popping up everywhere as Big Data starts to work its way into more executive conversations. We've been down this road before; analytics isn't a new concept. However, new related technologies and a better understanding of what's at stake for businesses may make this wave a different one. The key is for everyone to get comfortable with the idea of using the new tools to roll their own analytics.

A recent Deloitte survey of 600 executives at manufacturing and retail companies found that 63 percent were highly concerned about risks within the extended supply chain comprising vendors and customers, ranking it among their top-two concerns. The executives surveyed also cited "lack of acceptable cross-functional collaboration" as the number one obstacle to managing risk effectively. While these survey results indicating a serious lack of collaboration and coordination among trading partners are certainly worrisome, should they really come as a surprise?

Breaking down functional silos to create transparent and responsive end-to-end supply chains has long been an intractable supply chain challenge, but many companies are finding success using a control tower concept that gets everyone working off the same plan and focused on the same outcome.