Tech Trends: Apache Hadoop, Big Data and Analysis

From 7 Ways Businesses are Leveraging Hadoop 

When you hear about Hadoop or Big Data, you probably think of large Internet companies, such as Google or Facebook. However, the use of Hadoop is not limited to large search engines or even Internet marketing.

Look at the companies like Cloudera who are working on helping businesses harness the power of data using Hadoop and other technologies. Look at their customers – the early adopters. Watch the applications being developed, deployed. Here is a hint at the upcoming opportunities.

It is not just big data. It is data of any size – big, medium, small. From I can’t believe you don’t use it

This year, we’re going to see data go from an opaque, untapped, and mystifying asset to a hyper competitive, I-can’t-believe-you-don’t-use-it weapon for businesses. I don’t mean big data; I mean data of any size: big, medium, and small. In fact, it’s not about the amount of data, it’s about the kind of data you have (and, of course, being smart enough to use it). This is all starting to happen because software is being built specifically to analyze lots of data – and it’s no longer cost-prohibitive to use this software, and the insights can fundamentally change the trajectory of your business.

It may be customer behavioral data, it may be support data or data from our market or industry (events, facts, theories, opinions, trends) pouring in. It is going to be the world of analyzers. These are not prediction machines. These are assistants that will fetch you something you can use to verify your hypotheses. They will slice, dice, analyze and offer you different views – in the blink of an eye.

So what happens to traditional data warehouse technologies? IDC survey results point out that Hadoop may be replacing a lot of those. 

Research firm IDC in a recent report shows that companies combine Hadoop with other databases to make big data analysis. A significant proportion of survey respondents said Hadoop is used to replace traditional data warehouse technologies. This ranges from the analysis of raw data, whether operational data, data from different machines or terminals or point-of-sale, or data on customer behavior collected by the e-commerce retail systems.

If you are in the traditional data warehousing, what does this mean to your business? What skills do you need to develop to keep up?

Look at the companies that are leveraging data analysis to run their businesses. These are the early adopters and leading indicators.

Companies like Amazon Web Services, Cloudera, Hortonworks, IBM, Intel, MapR Technologies, Pivotal Software, Twitter, Facebook and others are couching their big data message and providing insight into where the market is headed using Apache Hadoop technology.