Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/100231
Firms Still Baffled By Big Data A recent report from IBM and the Sa��d Business School at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom shows that while many organizations are using Big Data to improve the experiences of their customers, most are limiting their efforts to their internal data. Less than half of them are actively analyzing external sources such as social media. According to ���Analytics: The Real-World Use of Big Data,��� one reason for this is that many firms feel out of their comfort zones once they move beyond the well-understood data within their own systems. They distrust the truthfulness of opinions expressed via online comments, reviews, or tweets. In addition, only 25 percent of the firms surveyed reported that they had workers with the skills to reliably analyze unstructured and untraditional sources of data, such as geospatial data, streaming data, images, audio, video, and customer comments and interactions. Even so, 63 percent of respondents indicated that they believe that data analytics could create a competitive advantage for their organizations. ���The survey LinkedIn Launches Pilot Program In July, LinkedIn���s ���higher educa- found that organizations are taking a pragmatic approach to Big Data,��� says Michael Schroeck of IBM���s global business services. Many schools are responding to the trend highlighted in this study by creating or enhancing their business analytics programs. For example, the Sa��d Business School is developing courses and further research studies that focus on the analysis and application of Big Data. In the U.S., Michigan State University in Lansing recently announced that it will offer a master���s degree program in business analytics, which will incorporate coursework from MSU���s Broad College of Business and Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences. Broad College also has plans for its undergraduates to participate in a real-world case study on the commercialization of Watson, IBM���s supercomputer. The full Sa��d /IBM report is available at www.ibm. com/2012bigdatastudy. tion evangelist��� John Hill announced on his blog that the networking platform would partner with several academic institutions for its College Pilot Program. Through the program, participating schools will have access to LinkedIn tools to support student career development and build their alumni networks. Hult International Business School, for example, plans to use LinkedIn���s tools to reach out to its 6,000 alumni and facilitate more connections between those alumni and current students. More than 60 percent of Hult alumni now use Linked��n. Through the use of I L �� inked��n���s customized data mining I tools, the school hopes to increase that number to 80 percent. Hult and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania are the two business schools partnering with LinkedIn for this effort. Other schools include Michigan State University, University of California at San Diego, University of Rochester, the Alumni Association of the Uni�� versity of Michigan, and Syracuse University. The College Pilot Program is closed to new partners at this time. Data analytics is expected to create 4.4 million jobs worldwide by 2015, but the skilled workers available will fill only one-third of those projected openings. ��� Gartner Research BizEd January/February 2013 63