Baffled by Big Data? Use ‘Small’ Data
Warby Parker co-founder Neil Blumenthal recently explained why most start-ups should forget much buzzed about big data and focus on plain, old data instead.Pardon the pun, but this past year big data was huge.Nearly every media outlet ran something on the promise of crunching vast amounts of data, including Inc. Small business owners have taken notice. A survey from Harris Interactive a few months back found that 76% of firms polled believe big data is an opportunity for their business.The only problem: these companies can't even agree on what "big data" means." For 28% it means "massive growth of transaction data." But 24% think it refers to new technologies for managing massive data, and 19% define it as the 'requirement to store and archive data for regulatory compliance,'" according to the survey.What does that boil down to? Big data holds lots of promise, sure, but for small businesses, realizing the benefits of this trend may still be pretty far out of reach. So should the average founder simply throw up their hands and click along to the next article whenever they read yet another headline about how they need to be using more data to run their business