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Big Data Lester M. Legette Trident University International

ITM501 Dr. Tom Swanson December 19, 2011

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To what degree should organizations depend on the analysis of large databases and other IT resources to formulate basic strategy? Organizations should treat data as a slave rather than a master. (Schumpeter, 2011) Big Data: the next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. No matter if you are gathering climate information, posting a video to the social media sites, or making an online purchase data is being gathered. With over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being created every day, something or someone must make since of all this data and process it into information. Data is unprocessed information. Once the Data is process and can be understood in becomes information. Once the information is deemed to be useful, and provides answer to who, what, where, when it becomes knowledge. Once the knowledge is understood and can answer the question of how, it becomes understanding and a appreciation of why is obtained. Once the information has been evaluated and there is vast understanding of the knowledge then it is considered Wisdom. (Bellinger, Castro & Mills, 2004) In all Big Data provides managers with the tools needed in order to target customers, and provide them with feedback on trending items whats selling and whats not. As evidenced by the rapid emergence of newer and better information technology and the constant evolution of information systems it is no longer appropriate to differentiate between overall organizational strategy and information management strategy. Information is the driver of organizational success; how it is acquired, used, and deployed must be the foundation for the overall organizational strategy. It is fallacy to think that information management is only a function of the IT department. Information management must be an enterprise level function that has the capability to increase coordination among all parts of the organization. In order to achieve a cohesive and integrative organizational strategy, enterprise architecture programs and

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practices are often utilized. Enterprise architecture (EA) is a conceptual tool that assists organizations with the understanding of their own structure and the way they work. It provides a map of the enterprise and is a route planner for business and technology change (Enterprise Architecture Center, n. d.). The purpose of this paper is to examine enterprise architecture and its efficacy as an organizational information management tool. An enterprise information system (EIS) is a computing system that is capable of supporting a large organization or enterprise. It enables an organization to handle large amounts of data and coordinate and integrate its business processes. It offers a single system that is centralized within an organization that can be shared among all organizational levels. An enterprise information system should cross organizational borders and eliminate the breakdown of information that occurs when there are multiple information systems. In order for an enterprise information system to be successful it must be both loosely coupled and decomposable. Bringing big date to the Enterprise In todays Business World, Big Data is being used to make businesses more agile, and to answer questions that couldnt be answered in the past. Big data has allowed businesses to expand into a three dimensional state. Big data has provided businesses with Variety, Velocity, and Volume. Variety gives businesses the means to receive data in many different states, rather its via text, audio, video, click streams, log files, or social web sites businesses can use whatever means find more suitable to obtain useful information needed to make smart, and wise decisions. Velocity gives managers the ability to use data as it is being streamed into the enterprise, this gives managers the ability to maximize its value to the business and make real time business

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decisions. Volume gives managers the storage space to maximize all data to its full potential, it gives manages the option to store information as long as its needed in order to make realistic business decisions. Big Data is offered as a Software as a Service. No assembly required, the software is designed to integrate and operate within organizations existing IT infrastructure, reducing deployment time, complexity and cost. The software also gives managers the opportunities to extract hidden information in data that gives managers an unfair advantage over the competition. Building with big data The data revolution is changing the landscape of business. Thanks to the benefits of Big Data, organizations are able to build a bigger and better profile of their customers. This new found technology allows managers to adjust prices and promotions that are able to better suit certain customers. Amazon has claimed that 30% of its sales are generated by its recommendations to customers (Schumpeter, 2011). Counter Argument While manipulation of the various parts of an EIS without disturbing others is a beneficial attribute, disaggregating organizational and information management strategies is futile. As Orr (n. d.) points out IT assets are increasingly important to the overall success (or failure) of large enterprises. Suddenly, people in large organizations around the world are discovering just how dependent they are on IT systems and IT infrastructure as well as how interdependent all the various pieces of IT are with one another and with users inside and outside the organization. Most importantly, people are seeing that IT enables new things to be done, things that were not possible before. Once again, we see the truth behind the old saw The whole

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is greater than the sum of its parts. Organizational strategies and information management strategies cannot be independent of one another. Information is one of the most valuable assets of any organization. Information and data are critical components to any organizational decision or strategy. Being able to access timely and accurate information is vital to organizational success. Organizational strategies are dependent on the information available and information management strategies are dependent on organizational needs and strategies. Enterprise architecture is used to manage and align an organization's Information Technology (IT) assets, people, operations, and projects with its operational characteristics. In other words, the enterprise architecture defines how information and technology will support the business operations and provide benefit for the business. Well-documented, well-understood enterprise architecture enables the organization to respond quickly to changes in the environment in which the organization operates. It serves as a ready reference that enables the organization to assess the impact of the changes on each of the enterprise architecture components. It also ensures the components continue to operate smoothly through the changes (NIH, n.d.). The Enterprise Architecture Center (EAC) has provided a rather extensive amount of information on enterprise architecture, how and why to implement it and maintain it. From the information provided in the EAC documents, it is apparent that there are a few flaws in their vision of enterprise architecture. First, EAC suggests that a new organizational model may need to be adopted in order to transition to enterprise architecture. This may not be in the best interest of the organization, to completely restructure. Secondly, EAC recommendations appear to be rather rigid and in an environment where technology and its capabilities are constantly evolving, rigidity is not an asset. EAC does not seem to acknowledge the importance of the interconnectivity of the business units and this can be a fatal flaw. As organizations

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attempt to adopt enterprise information systems, the coordination and integration of all business units is vital to the success of any enterprise architecture program. Loosely coupled is a term that can be used in different contexts but for our purposes we will use Hagels definition. Hagel defines loosely coupled as an attribute of systems, referring to an approach to designing interfaces across modules to reduce the interdependencies across modules or components in particular, reducing the risk that changes within one module will create unanticipated changes within other modules. This approach specifically seeks to increase flexibility. Adding modules, replacing modules and changing operations within individual modules (2002). Being loosely coupled is an important attribute for EIS because when an organization uses a singular information system, one subunit must be able to utilize and manipulate data in the system without disrupting another subunits functionality. Being able to share information across organizational boundaries should not mean sacrificing autonomous usage and manipulation. Being decomposable is an important aspect of EIS. Decomposable systems are those that come apart at the presentation/interface, business rule/application, and data layers (Orr, n. d.). This enables an information system to reform one layer without affecting another layer. As needs change or as technology changes, a modular system that is decomposable and loosely coupled is a necessity. In order for any enterprise architecture program to deliver true integration of information management and organizational strategy it has to be adaptable to the future and flexible enough to fit the organization rather than the organization fitting the program. It must allow the organization to remain loosely coupled so that modifications can be made to any part of the organization or any aspect of its strategies without having to modify the entire organization or its overall organizational strategies.

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Conclusion Having displayed a vast knowledge of the information presented above we see that it is most imperative for manages to use Big Data and other IT asset to their full capabilities. Managers must not get so wrapped up in these technologies that they allow the software to become their master, but they must learn how to make it work for them so that they can receive all of its intended capabilities.

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References Bellinger, G., Castro, D., & Mills, A. (2004). Data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. Enterprise Architecture Center. (n.d.). What is Enterprise Architecture? Enterprisearchitecture center.com. Retrieved Dec 05, 2011 from http://www.enterprisearchite cturecenter.com/page/3. Hagel, J. (2002, October 9). Loosely Coupled: A Term Worth Understanding. JohnHagel.com. Retrieved Dec 05, 2011 from http://www.johnhagel.com/view20021009.shtml. Orr, K. (n.d.). Business Enterprise Architecture Modeling. Cutter.com. Retrieved Dec 05, 2011 from http://www.cutter.com/content-and-analysis/resource-centers/enterprisearchitecture/sample-our-research/index.html. Schumpeter. (n.d.). Building with big data.