The need for big data in organizations is growing tremendously. The global revenue for the big data industry is expected to increase to 42 billion U.S. dollars in size by 2018. Now that’s a huge number, right?

But before implementing big data in any organization, the business leaders and analysts set a foundation that aims to give a centralized vision of the potential of this technology. Only 23% of sectors have an enterprise-wide big data strategy. This is a clear indication that more than 50% of the organizations are still trying to find the right way for implementing big data in their firm.

A successful big data strategy requires a broader approach that includes sub-strategies, such as big data governance, data management, and architecture, after experimentation with various new business cases. But, the existing data strategy is tactical, which cannot handle the data (big data) that comes in real-time. The way to a successful big data strategy is shared below:

Advice for a successful big data strategy

Here we unlock the strategy for successful implementation of big data in your organization. Now, it might be a little surprising for you, but the right big data strategy lies in not strategizing at all. The reason we say this is because:

• First, big data is a big thing, containing large chunks of data. Having a restricted plan that gives a narrow approach to managing the data is not the best way out
• Second, a lot of business use cases of big data evolve only over time. We should experiment with those business cases and build a strategy over time. You can say that strategizing for big data implementation is a slow learning process.

Guide to follow before you leverage big data

The following steps are essential before leveraging big data in your organization. Business leaders and analysts should:

• Determine their industry’s business goals and requirements and, accordingly, strategize how to use data for different business cases
• Focus on their data first rather than building information governance or big data architecture
• Experiment with different and relevant business use cases and have a comprehensive knowledge of those use cases
• Organize the strategy as and when they experiment with big data for different use cases
• Check out how the insights that are drawn from the use cases are helping their firm to optimize their performance
• Keep an eye on their competitor’s actions and performance too

It is true that having a big data strategy aids a comprehensive view of how well we’re managing big data in our premises. But, it is equally valid that having a narrow in approach strategy, without enough experience of just having big data in your business, won’t be helpful either. Hence, creating a big data governance strategy and architecture after experimenting with the business use cases is the best way to implement big data in your industry.