Big Data is Junk Yard!!! (An interesting conversation with my 12 years old son)

[vcagrawal]

I and my 12 years old son do have discussions on technology and those are generally restricted to Apple devices, Gaming Laptops, Robotics & Gaming. Last week he suddenly came out with a question and whole conversation took a very interesting turn. This is how it went…

Kid: Dad, everyone is talking about Big Data, what exactly is Big Data?

Me (considering the he is just 12, I struggled a bit): Son, it is nothing but kind of junk yard.

Kid: Seriously?

Me: Yup

Kid: How?

Me: What do we do with your old things which you don’t use now or with the things which people gift you but you don’t find any immediate usage for them.

Kid: Dad, all are in backyard.

Me: Exactly, that is what Big Data is. See Enterprises generate lot of data which does have time value. Beyond a time, data does lose value and that is the data goes to backyard called as Big Data.

Kid: Oh, you meant obsolete / expired / not so valuable data?

Me: Yes, kind of.

Kid: Dad, what about the gifts you were talking about?

Me: These days, Organization do collect lot of data from social websites, from IOT devices etc. All of that is also typically dumped on Big Data.

Kid: Oh, what is this Big Data on Cloud then?

Me: People who don’t have a backyard or don’t want to dumps things in their backyard, where do they dump their junk?

Kid: Scrap Yard Dad.

Me: Exactly that is what Big Data on Cloud is, a part of scrap yard taken on rent with flexibility that if you have more junk in future you can rent out bigger space.

Kid: Oh… that way they need to do cleaning of their backyard as well and also no need to worry about size of backyard.

Me: Exactly.

Kid: Why are so many people taking about junkyard? I mean about Big Data?

Me: Interesting question son, but once in a while people do find something worthwhile in junkyard. But these opportunities are far and few between.

Kid: What are these worthwhile things?

Me: See, once in a while some specialist looking for something specific does dirty his hands digging the junk and does find something worthwhile. What I meant is once in a while data scientist will dig through the data and may find something valuable.

Kid: But dad, these things were with us before we dumped them to backyard / scarp yard Why do we need to wait for them to go junk and look for value?

Me (confused now): True, may be you are right…

Finding me in the state of bewilderment, he dropped the conversation and went ahead with his game of “Fortnite Royale Battle” and I was still pondering over it…

Core of any enterprise has been and shall always be differentiated processed and that is where focus should be rather than on some junk yard and that is what companies like SAP are moving towards with “Intelligent Process”, “Intelligent enterprise” and key solution like “Analytics Cloud”.

There is not denying Big Data is important but “CORE” focus shall always be on differentiated processes to bring in competitive advantage. For few of the Enterprises BigData is core and for the rest, it shall be Junk in backyard which can provide couple of valuable insight on digging.

Question is why to wait for it to be in junkyard before one starts digging? 🙂 Please so share your comments / thoughts

 

Note: (Views expressed are completely mine and not of my organization)