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PREFACEExecutive Letter from Bob PiccianoWhen the technology market shifts, big things happen. Opportunities ariseand risks are confronted. Organizations and practitioners need to understandand prepare for such change. Part of this process includes being on the lookoutfor the emerging “factoids” that tell us in advance that we’re approachinga shift, lift, rift, or cliff. But even more interesting is that emotional senseof promise for what a new space might bring. In our industry, we often seethe predictive data, and we’re told about the perils in failing to act. But rarelydo we also get that sense of pure excitement about a whole new frontier thatis being invented, discovered, forged, and fostered. When both elements arepresent simultaneously, really interesting things start to happen. Think aboutit for a moment…when was the last time you had the opportunity to be partof an inflection point? Big Data is one of those rare opportunities.Studies strongly indicate marked performance differences in those organizationsthat embrace the opportunities around the broad space of analytics.Our own study, conducted jointly by IBM and MIT, showed that organizationsthat focus on analytics significantly outperform their segmentpeers on the key business metrics of growth, earnings, and performance.Consider the emotional side of this. For years, so many of us in the field ofanalytics and information management have worked to rapidly turn anytype of structured or unstructured data into useful insights to differentiateperformance. Now, with the emergence of Big Data, for the first time wecan really get a sense that the hurdles of volume, variety, velocity, andveracity can be tackled and overcome.Big Data represents a huge opportunity for businesses across many problemdomains. As a new wave of technology emerges to help realize thepromise, there also comes a set of challenges. There is a need for new skills;a need to handle larger data volumes, strains on data quality, and countlessevolutions of data types, among a host of other challenges. Very few companiescan afford to hire and train thousands of new workers just to addressxxi