How to Cash in on the Big Data Treasure Trove

Companies are sitting on vast amounts of data which, when analyzed, could provide them with a competitive edge in their business and help them in their digital transformation.

“If you want to do something that will get your business jumping up ahead of others, big data engineering will help business owners differentiate themselves from their competitors,” says Nick Puntikov, CEO at First Line Software.

“This is where the huge potential lies. Data is a great asset – but the big question is, how do you draw value out of it?”

However, big data engineering is still in its early stages and there is some confusion by a lot of companies as to what is needed for that role. Often firms have hired data scientists that have been hugely expensive, and difficult to find but have been disappointed on the job because they did not bring the value that they were expected to bring.

What companies should be doing, Puntikov suggests, is to establish “a one-stop-shop –to employ a firm that has experience and expertise in manipulation and managing the data on a physical infrastructure level, as well as having a sophisticated task force who know how to analyze the data and draw value out of it.”

Businesses can look at this outsourcing model in a similar way to the data-as-a-service model. For example, a company can subscribe to a yearly service and get certain reports about their data every month.

First Line Software has built a team of individuals who are brilliant at the technology behind big data analysis, and understand how to put together infrastructure as well as configure and integrate data. It is about being ahead of the curve.

Data is extremely valuable to any company, and having it analyzed by those with the right skillsets can really give firms a competitive edge.

Industry view Nick Puntikov is CEO of First Line Software Group +1 617 548 6426 www.firstlinesoftware.com