Staffing and Sheer Volume of Information Make for a Big Data Headache

Data monitoring and collection firm Connotate announced the results of its "Big Data Attitudes and Perceptions Survey," and found that 45 percent of those surveyed indicated that human effort was the primary deterrent to efforts to leverage Big Data, while 44 percent believe the volume of internal and Web information is the culprit. The report polled more than 300 thought leaders spanning a variety of industries, including financial services, about corporate goals involving Big Data.

The Connotate report indicated that executives believe human capital is equally important as technology in harnessing Big Data.

"Our research shows that Big Data goes beyond technology and is an HR challenge for corporate America," said Connotate CEO Tom Meyer in a statement. "While it is important that organizations devote resources to Big Data, employees must be freed from the information fire hose so they can concentrate only on the information that is relevant to their tasks."

The survey also found that Web-based data, which is continuously created and distributed at exponential growth rates, has the power to deliver business insights but also create more headaches. Sixty-one percent of respondents to the survey indicated they are creating "huge obstacles" for themselves by manually searching and collecting Web-based data and content. With almost a third (31 percent) of respondents saying they need to collect critical information for their Big Data projects daily, organizations' anxiety around not having enough people to support Big Data initiatives comes into clearer focus, the report stated.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio