The Data Hurdle

摘要

As we start 2014, it is probably safe to say that all Fortune 500 companies have Big Data initiatives under way. Today, Big Data is less a buzzword to make you sound smart and more an initiative that proves harder to wrestle with than originally thought. The challenges are not just about infrastructure-how to store, secure and sift through terabytes of data on everything from purchases to site traffic to television audiences. The biggest hurdle, particularly for marketers, can be combining disparate data sets in ways that make Big Data actionable. For example, you may have the point-of-sale data for more than 300 of your company's mall outlets, but to define your customers (or potential ones) in the real world means combining that register data with consumer profiles from another source. Finding the best way to reach those people with an ad campaign-straddling digital and traditional-requires yet another partner.