One of the things I find interesting about big data is that, like cloud computing, it strikes me as a marketing term more than an accurate technology descriptor. As an industry we've been doing a version of both for a long, long time. Now that big data has everyone's attention, two issues immediately should come to mind:

Do you have the IT staff who can define what big data is for you and what's required to carry it off successfully? Do you have colleagues who understand why you might need big data and can develop use cases that will drive the business?

These are always the first questions I ask: “What do you need, and why do you need it?” In my 28 years of experience, nine times out of ten there will be a pregnant pause and a blank stare, because people are focused too much on the how of their request — I need an iPad, I need a database, I need social media — than on the business case. If they don't have a proper value proposition in mind for an initiative like big data, it's time for a deeper discussion.

A Volkswagen body with a Ferrari engine

When I arrived at Pharmavite a few years ago we had just purchased a business intelligence platform, big data tools and a host of other technologies. What we lacked, in part, was the strategy and the team to put them together to support a business need. It was like a Ferrari engine stuck into a Volkswagen chassis. Again, a how before a why. By asking those why questions about our business, we've come up with six corporate IT strategies to accelerate the smart growth of our company. One, for example, is what we call our Enterprise Information Management strategy. This strategy encompasses business intelligence, document management and other capabilities that feel right for us and where we need our company to go.

Big data needs the right process, and big skills

To demonstrate that IT should have a more proactive role on big data-level initiatives, we are starting to become more integrated within the business to better understand business needs and process so we can bring what I call our “what’s possible” thinking to the company. If people don’t know what’s possible, after all, how do they know what they need and why they need it? A big part of IT’s real job is to help tell the business what’s possible with technology and discuss that openly. That dovetails nicely with the “What do you need? Why do you need it?” conversation, which opens up necessary details about process, simplification, and finally technology enablement.

Now, with a more Agile process, better change management, and the right IT staff, we’re in a great position to build big data solutions for the company. Providing, of course, that people always can make a convincing case for the why.

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Brian Beams joined Pharmavite LLC (the makers of Naturemade vitamins & SOYJOY fruit/soy bars) in June 2010 and is responsible for determining the strategic direction of the company’s IT solutions, infrastructure and technology operations, as well as the company’s customer and consumer-facing technologies. Brian began his career with 14 years as a technology consultant with Andersen Consulting’s (aka Accenture) worldwide technical services group, rising to the level of Associate Partner while based in Chicago, IL.