Summary:Non-techies
come to the rescue, "Big Data washers" will continue to proliferate
By Thoran
Rodrigues for Brazil Tech
Until quite
recently, many people in Brazil didn't know what Big Data was. Until 2013, the
year Big Data went mainstream, there was very little understanding about the
concept of data analytics and its applications, the technologies behind it and
the companies that operated in this space.
With growing
interest in the topic and expanding media coverage, understanding grew and
because of this, 2014 has been a year of widespread local experimentation,
pilot projects and proofs of concept. Many of the largest companies
experimented with the concepts and technologies, either internally or by hiring
external help, and the demand has only been growing.
However,
just as with every other emerging technology, there is still a lot of
uncertainty and confusion related both with the underlying concepts of Big Data
and the potential applications and benefits that it can bring. Actually, many
people still have a hard time agreeing on what exactly Big Data is.
In this
environment of high demand coupled with uncertainty, some noteworthy trends
have arisen and will be shaping the evolution of the market in 2015:
Non-techies
will help fix the skills gap
To realize
all the potential of Big Data projects, it is not enough to have professionals
that are skilled on the technical tools. To achieve results, they must also
have a good understanding of maths and statistics, as well as deep business
knowledge. This combination of skills is what characterizes a data scientist,
or a data science team - and the demand for this kind of professionals has
never been greater.
The lack of
qualified professionals to work on Big Data projects in Brazil is one of the
main problems companies face when starting analytics projects, and also the
reason why consultants active within that field have no shortage of work these
days.
Many of the
top universities in Brazil have been trying to address the Big Data skills gap
by launching new executive or part-time courses focused on teaching the basics
of data analysis, and updating their CVs accordingly. Many companies have also
been investing in training in a more focused manner to better respond to these
issues.
One very
interesting trend here is that much of the Big Data-related training is being
offered to professionals who do not have an IT background, but rather a
statistics or math background.
This
indicates that the market appears to have decided that it is more productive to
teach those who already understand data analysis how to work with the tools
they need to handle Big Data, than to teach data analysis to those who already
understand the technical side.
So it is
fair to say that there's a huge opportunity for companies focused on training
and education to provide courses for the market. There is also a lot of space
for companies to provide tools for handling Big Data that anyone, regardless of
their tech proficiency, can use.
"Big
Data Washers" shall proliferate
Just as the
advent of cloud computing brought about the "cloud washers" -
companies that simply slapped the cloud computing label on whatever software or
solutions they already had - today we are witnessing the rise of "big data
washers" in Brazil: companies that are labelling their solutions "Big
Data" regardless of whether they deliver on that promise or not.
While this
is a common trend for any emerging technology that hits the mainstream, it
seems to be happening even more in the Big Data space in this market. Part of
the problem is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding it.
The lack of
consensus and definitions then enables companies to rebrand their products as
so-called Big Data offerings without giving customers a clear way to
differentiate between the serious companies and those that are less so.
A lot of
this relabeling also happens internally. Many companies, especially large
corporations in the telecom and financial services verticals, have been
claiming to have always worked with Big Data, that this is just a new name for
the work they already did.
It is true
that these companies might have been handling massive amounts of data for quite
some time, but volume alone is not enough to label a dataset as Big Data.
Unfortunately
though, not everyone understands this difference.
This trend
will definitely continue to be seen in Brazil over the next year, as the large
interest of the market on Big Data creates an incentive for solution providers
and IT shops to jump on the bandwagon. Growing understanding and wider
dissemination of information may help reverse it, but here in Brazil there is
still a long way to go.
Focused
vendors will succeed
Big Data is
already a huge market, accounting for several hundred million dollars of IT
spending in Brazil alone. Today, most of this money is going to technology
companies from outside Brazil (infrastructure or basic application providers,
such as Amazon and Cloudera), or to large consulting firms who are implementing
projects.
The local
companies having the most success and experiencing faster growth in the Big
Data market are those who sought a particular Big Data problem and developed a
product that solves that problem in its entirety. Such companies handle data
collection, analysis and processing themselves, delivering the final result of
the process to clients, instead of a series of technologies that can be applied
to that problem.
Companies
might have been handling massive amounts of data for quite some time, but
volume alone is not enough to label a dataset as Big Data
Why is that
approach unique? Because it presents more valuable learnings to companies
wanting to dabble with Big Data: finding a problem and focusing on solving it
from start to finish means you are much more likely to succeed, rather than
simply experimenting with tools and technologies applied to regular data.
Big Data is
still very much a nascent market in Brazil, and it is expected to grow
tremendously over the next few years. 2015 will be a year where the first
movers of the market will start to shift from proofs of concept to
production-oriented projects. This will present an excellent opportunity for
local and international companies, meaning that the data analytics market in
Brazil is definitely one to watch this year.