Mark van Rijmenam’s Top 7 Big Data Trends for 2017
Top Big Data expert Mark van Rijmenam weighs in with his top Big Data-related predictions for 2017.
4. IoT-Related Data Breaches Will Cause Havoc
The Internet of Things continues to grow. In 2016, probably around 6,5 billion devices are connected to the internet, which is expected to grow to 50 billion devices in 2020. 2016 also saw the first large scale IoT-related DDoS attack. The 2016 IoT DDoS attack, which disrupted the internet on the USA East Coast, was made possible because of the lack of security with connected devices. A botnet infected thousands of connected devices such as routers or smart cameras and used these to launch a DDoS attack that brought down the internet for millions of people.
Unfortunately, 2017 will probably see many more of such IoT-related attacks. Simply because IoT connected devices are notoriously vulnerable because of the lack of security. Many organisations that develop smart toothbrushes, smart cameras, smart dolls for children or whatever smart connected device you can think of, do not take data security serious at all. As such, hackers will be able to hijack your daughter’s Barbie doll to spy on your kids or bring down the internet for millions of people. Governments and regulators must step in to force manufacturers of connected devices to secure their IoT devices to the highest level, because it only requires one internet connection to infect a network with a virus and bring down the internet.
5. Mixed Reality Will Drastically Improve Data Visualisations and Decision-Making
Augmented and Virtual Reality have come a long way in the past years. Augmented Reality had its pivoting moment in 2016 with the launch of Pokémon Go, which reached over 100 million users in just a few weeks. Obviously, Pokémon Go is not very relevant for large corporations that want to understand their data, but it is important to understand the impact Augmented, Virtual or Mixed reality will have on our society. 2016 also saw the launch of several new Virtual Reality devices, including PlayStation VR, which instantly made VR accessible to over 40 million gamers who bought the PlayStation 4. Another pivoting moment.
Although AR or VR might not be very useful for the boardroom, the concept of Mixed Reality might very well be. Mixed reality is the merging of the virtual world with the real world and some of the devices that enable this are Microsoft Hololens or the yet-to-be-revealed Magic Leap. Mixed Reality will offer tremendous opportunities for organisations to better perform tasks at hand as well as to better understand the data generated by the organisation.
There are already many examples of some form of Mixed Reality being used in the manufacturing industry to enable better repairs, faster product development or improved inventory management. In addition, Mixed Reality will help decision makers with the understanding of (very) complex data sets, which will enable them to make better decisions. 2017 will see an increase in products and applications developed for Mixed Reality, which organisations can use to improve their decision-making or deliver a better product or service.
6. Big-Data-as-a-Self-Service Solutions Will Catalyse Big Data Adoption
With the hype of Big Data finally behind us, organisations are starting to see that their data offers valuable insights for their business. Organisations want to monetise their data. Slowly, they are starting to understand that, actually, all companies are technology companies. As such, they should treat their data as if being the core of their business. However, for many organisations, it is not possible to spend millions on advanced big data analytics systems and/or hire big data scientists or analysts, simply because they are too small for that. Fortunately, 2017 will see a rise in Big-Data-as-a-Self-Service solutions.
Self-service big data analytics will enable organisations to monetise their data and to use the insights to improve their business. These solutions do not require months of planning and preparation or the development of an IT infrastructure. Instead, you can simply connect your data sources and get to work. These platforms will enable agility, short time-to-implementation and offer increased productivity for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Knowing that there are approximately 125 million SMEs in the world, it is a massive market up for grabs. Big-Data-as-a-Self-Service Solutions, enabling organisations to prepare data irrespective of the type of data, whether structured, semi-structured or unstructured, could, therefore, be the killer app for big data adoption in 2017.
7. Sensemaking through Mixed Data Will Empower Employees
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The world around us is changing rapidly and organisations need to make sense of this changing environment to remain competitive. However, this sensemaking should not only be done by C-level executives or senior managers. Instead, organisations should empower the true decision-makers with the right insights from data. The real decision makers within an organisation are not senior managers or C-level executives, but are the employees that face the customer, sell your service or build the product in the factory. Insights can be provided by what I like to call a mixed data approach. Combining internal and external data as well as structured and unstructured data to gain valuable insights.
2017 will see more organisations empowering their employees with the right knowledge, thanks to big data analytics. Organisations will adopt tools such as Apache Spark, Hadoop or visualisation tools such as Tableau Software, ClearStory Data or Periscope to finally give the true decision-makers the insights they need to make the right decisions. This will shift the power balance within an organisation, since knowledge equals power. As such, it will require a change in behaviour of senior managers and C-level executives. However, if done correctly, it will increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve employee empowerment, increase profitability and along the way improve employee satisfaction.
2017: The Year of Intelligence
2017 will be an exciting year in terms of big data and I would like to call it the Year of Intelligence. Finally, we will see smart contracts developing into the first Decentralised Autonomous Organisations. Breakthroughs in deep learning will slowly bring us towards Artificial General Intelligence and intelligent applications combined with conversational AI will change how we interact with organisations. Those organisations will start to empower their employees with data insights and using Big-Data-as-a-Self-Service solution will improve their organisation. Unfortunately, all these intelligent applications of big data will also result in increased data breaches that will cause much harm to organisations and consumers. All in all, it will be an exciting and intelligent year.
What do you think of these seven big data trends for 2017? Anything you want to add? Please join the discussion in the comments below. If you want to download the presentation of the seven top big data trends for 2017, click here.
Bio: Mark van Rijmenam is Founder of Datafloq. He is a highly sought-after international public speaker, a Big Data strategist and author of the best-selling book Think Bigger - Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your Business. He is named a global top 10 Big Data influencer. Currently, he also pursues a PhD at University of Technology, Sydney on how organizations should deal with Big Data, the Blockchain and Algorithms.
This article was originally published on Datafloq. Reposted with permission.
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