Internet folklore decrees 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years and that this, newly created delta, orbits us at the Speed of Light. Employing the ‘Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear’ premise, by doubling the creation time and halving the speed. It still equates to a previously unfathomable volume of data, encircling the globe at a hitherto unfeasible rate.
So, why is there so much delta and why is it traveling so fast? Because it’s digital and who waits for anything? Data is information and information is knowledge and well, we all know what that is.
Data has always been a precious commodity and now, it’s one growing, ever closer, to becoming not only a currency but the currency. The concept of data as currency is not new. It’s now over a decade since Clive Humby, speaking at a Senior Marketers Summit, made the famous statement ‘Data is the new oil’. Mr. Humby went onto say:
‘Data is just like crude. It’s valuable, but if unrefined it cannot really be used. It has to be changed into gas, plastic, chemicals, etc to create a valuable entity that drives profitable activity; so must data be broken down, analysed for it to have value.’
Given the fortune Mr. Humby amassed devising the Tesco Club Card, he clearly appreciated the value of data but could even he, hand on heart, claim to have foreseen the size of the bomb, set to explode? For, not only has the Digital Age empowered us to record and analyse delta on a scale previously imaginable, it has made the creation of it- relatively simple. Is it any wonder there is now so much of it?
How much data is there? Google alone, get 3.5 billion searches a day and 1.2 trillion a year. Total internet traffic is predicted to surpass 1.4 Zettabytes in 2017. It is possible these figures will be exceeded by the time of writing and highly probable, by the time of reading. After all, over half the world’s population contributes.
Despite the profound influence Big Data currently exercises over our lives, the utilisation of this phenomenon is still in its infancy.
ICX4 deal in the currency of Big Data and specialise in salvaging treasure, sunk in Legacy Systems and Siloed Data. We ensure no Great White Sharks lurk unseen, in the galleons of the analogue age…
To find out more contact mark.sully@icx4.com or call 0203 872 6949