The 5 (But Really the 6) Mistakes Made in Big Data

Last week, we wrote about the assumed relationship between Big Data and innovation, and highlighted that there is an important analytical step necessary to move from the former to the latter.

The Wall Street Journal recently had a similar insight, that “companies are finding that big data doesn’t necessarily translate into easy success”.  They put out a list of 5 mistakes enterprises make with big data and how to avoid them.  They are:

1. Data for Data’s Sake: where companies try to follow the trend of Big Data without first considering the larger goal and objectives.
2. Talent Gap:   the shortage of employees with data analysis skills
3. Data, Data Everywhere:  the failure to properly organize large sums of data
4. Infighting:  internal disputes over which department or who owns the data
5. Aiming Too High:  the paralysis that results from taking on too large of initiatives

We generally agree that these are mistakes that companies can easily make.  But the Wall Street Journal failed to consider one other very important mistake that companies find out about only after it’s too late.  And that is what we think should be the 6th mistake in the list:  the frequent failure to back up data.

As a backup service for cloud-based apps like Google Apps and Salesforce, we certainly care about the larger topics of data security, data integrity, and securing information.  And with the trend towards Big Data, we’re eager to initiate the conversation about the importance of securing all data (big and small) and backing it up to prevent losing information.

So what do you think? Should companies beginning Big Data initiatives use their current backup systems to protect their information?  Do you know of any available solutions that can mitigate the risk of data loss?   Let us know in the comments below.