How strategists use “big data” to support internal business decisions, discovery and production

Purpose – The author, an internationally known IT expert, aims to explain how big data is being used by leading corporations to promote better decision making, especially about innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Big data is the collection and interpretation of massive data sets, made possible by vast computing power that monitors a variety of digital streams – such as sensors, marketplace interactions and social information exchanges – and analyses them using “smart” algorithms. It offers a promising new way to discover new opportunities to offer customers high-value products and services. Findings – Big data […] resembles not so much a pool of statistics as an ongoing, fast-flowing stream of information about customer choices. Therefore, a more continuous approach to sampling, analyzing and acting on data is necessary. Practical implications – A number of major financial services firms are using “customer journeys” through the tangle of websites, call centers, tellers and other branch personnel to...