Understanding changes caused by Big Data

Leading Big Data thinkers such as Prof. Mayer Schoenberger, Alex Pentland, and others have been educating the world about some of the fundamental changes being caused by Big Data. The seven key ones are described in the following sections.

Correlation is leading to valuable insights without having to wait for specific causal analysis

Fast and effective processing of lot of data can now accurately predict what is going to happen next without understanding deeply why it is happening. So, the value of evolving data is taking precedence over static knowledge acquired through lot of hard work, perseverance, and significant investment in developmental programs. Prof. Mayer-Schoenberger remarks, "Correlations let us analyze phenomenon not by shedding light on its inner workings but by identifying a useful proxy for it."

This change requires organizations to develop new skills and archive some of the old competencies. For example, in earlier times, retail...