Getting the most from data requires information sharing across departmental boundaries. Even though information silos remain common, CIOs and business leaders in many organizations are cooperating to enable cross-functional data sharing to improve business process efficiencies, lower costs, reduce risks, and identify new opportunities.

 Why Interdisciplinary Problem-Solving May Be Overlooked?

Today's businesses are placing greater emphasis on data scientists, business analysts, and data-savvy staff members.

As government agencies continue to embrace big data, many have only taken the first step, such as implementing a Hadoop or NoSQL database. While these databases may offer a more efficient or cost-effective means to process large data sets, it's still static data. On its own, Hadoop doesn't offer a means for real-time decision-making.

New streaming analytics tools that weren't available until recently stand to deliver the real-time, perishable insights agencies need to take preventative action, and not just react after the fact when data has lost value.

Partners must harness analytics if they are to understand their customers comprehensively, delegates heard at IBM Amplify in San Diego today.

He expressed surprise that some companies are still not taking advantage of the amount of data they collect, citing call centers as an example of where a great deal of customer data may come in via complaints, but is not analyzed to try and understand the customer better.

The goal is to drive personalized campaigns, both on the social network and across other digital channels. IBM just signed another significant data partner, Facebook.

 In simple terms, the initial focus of the alliance is on combining data: it makes Facebook’s Custom Audience insights available to brands that use IBM’s Marketing Cloud to manage campaigns.

 IBM and Facebook began working together actively in January, when Advani was named to his current position after running some of IBM’s cloud services.

The “data is a corporate asset” aphorism has traveled to the C-suite faster than the express elevator in your headquarters building. And why not? Executives understand that data is a critical component of running their businesses more effectively, getting new customers, and driving innovation.

 Many of these executives find comfort in the idea that there is an economic value to data, allowing them to apply accounting and operational principles to data that they apply to other assets oh-so-well.Yes, data has value. And yes, that value may be tangible or intangible.

Google has finally taken the wraps off its Cloud Dataflow offering, which is designed to allow developers lacking in Hadoop skills to build sophisticated analytic “pipelines” capable of processing extremely large datasets.

 Cloud Dataflow can ingest, transform, normalize, and analyze huge amounts of data, well into the Exabyte range. “Just write a program, submit it and Cloud Dataflow will do the rest. No clusters to manage, Cloud Dataflow will start the needed resources, auto scale them (within the bounds you choose) and terminate them as soon as the work is done.

Seoul-based company, called Jumpgate Technologies, says it tries to eliminate human involvement altogether, giving its machine-learning technology free rein to discover  and take advantage of  the world’s growing trove of data.

One much bigger firm, New York-based Two Sigma Investments LLC, the subject of a page one Wall Street Journal story this week, programs its machines to cull torrents of information from earnings reports, weather bulletins and Twitter. 

To allocate its $24 billion in assets under management, Two Sigma’s strategy will generate different investment models based on this data. For the first time, these investors say,

IBM has announced plans to create a dedicated business unit for Internet of Things (IoT), and will fund it to the tune of $3 billion over the next four years.

Big Blue is a keen adherent of the idea that connected devices (be they sensors, cars or fridges) will be able to provide real-time data that makes everyone’s lives that much easier.

 The formation of its IoT business unit is a standard procedure for IBM, which typically targets an area it perceives to be prime for high value growth.Nevertheless, IBM faces some tough competition in its assault on the IoT.