By: Glenn Boylan, PMP

The October Technology Forum featured a very informative presentation by John Salguero titled “Is Your Data Talking to You? And, Are You Listening?” about big data and how to manage big data projects.

Steve Kruger welcomed everyone to the meeting, and thanked Hewlett-Packard for hosting our forum. This was the last Technology Forum to be held at H-P this year.

Steven then turned the meeting over to Mr. Salguero for his presentation. John started with a quiz, asking the audience, which is the most important part of “Big Data”, the “Big” part, the “Data” part, both, or neither?

The answer was neither. John explained that the most important thing about big data is what organizations do with it. Effective use requires the right data, the right questions, the right model, the right people, and the right decisions. For most organizations, this will require a significant culture change.

John reviewed what IBM calls the four “Vs” of big data: Volume (data at rest), Variety (data in many forms), Velocity (data in motion), and Veracity (data in doubt). The reason big data has become a useful tool at this point in time is the confluence of data transactions, data interaction, and data processing all becoming viable to the scale necessary.

Organizations that make the changes necessary to effectively use big data can expect to see substantial benefits including better understanding of their customers, optimization of processes, predictive analytics, tighter security, and improved performance.

The final part of John’s presentation reviewed what he sees as the project lifecycle for big data projects. He provided in-depth information on the Initiation, Planning, Development, Operations and Support, and Evaluation phases.

Be sure to check the PMI Atlanta web site for the 2016 Technology Forum events that will kick off in January.