Friday, February 24, 2012

Commentary: How Big Data Is Changing The Way We Lead


I read the article How Big Data Is Changing The Way We Lead, written on February 1st, 2012. The article was about how data is changing the way organizations are run. It mentioned that rather than using the rather typical low-management to high-management structure which includes middle-management, recent advances in computer data analyses allow for companies to remove the middle-management.



Big data allows for clarity in a company. This allows for faster, easier decision making. Data can often eliminate inner turmoil in a company because it provides hard facts and predictions. The predictions that data can make are much more powerful today than they ever have been in the past. Data can be and is used in a variety of different ways depending on the corporation and every corporation has some sort of use for data analysis.

Data is an integral part of a company and turning that data into knowledge and wisdom is incredibly important. The police can use their data to predict crimes. Companies can use their data to predict sales and other economic events. The importance of data as recent has increased because computers are widespread and data is easily collected by companies.

While the article presents a bright future for data analytics, it’s also important to understand its downfalls. Data can’t predict things outside of its own reach. For instance, a company imputing the wrong data (or simply not inputting the right data) will incorrectly predict future events – or simply not predict events that could be used in a helpful manner. Companies may not know what data to record or how to convert the data they do record into knowledge or wisdom. This could present problems for companies that get stuck recording data that isn’t important or use the wrong data to predict important things.

Meanwhile, some companies thrive on using data. Companies like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn are data-intensive and use it to reach their audience, improve their product, and advertise. Companies that functioned as these data-intensive companies do were not possible years ago but data-intensive companies are likely to increase in popularity in the future.

1 comment:

  1. Hey I really liked your blog. I thought you had a lot of interesting ideas in regards to the way that data works today, and how important it is. I thought that it was very interesting that you looked at the other side of how data could be looked at as a negative thing. It’s interesting I also agreed with your point because it’s possible with the amount of information and data that is out there that it would be easy for a company to use the wrong data that would cause them to get the wrong numbers. I would like to know what you thought about how positive data could be. I believe that data has helped so many companies these days figure out what is best for them in regards to investments, potential employees, and other important information. I did however like how you linked social media to data because it’s very important that people understand how much data is used when it comes to social media.

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