This document discusses the rise of big data and how it is changing information management. It notes that the amount of data being generated is growing exponentially from sources like mobile devices and sensors. With big data, datasets are now so large that standard database tools can no longer handle them. The document also explores how this data is revealing new trends and opportunities for businesses. It predicts that mobile platforms will overtake desktops in the next 5 years and that location-based services and social networking will continue to grow dramatically in importance. Finally, it concludes that businesses need to design for mobile first and recognize that most data will exist outside of their organizations.

1. Information and Records
Management: New Paradigms for
Old Problems?
Steve Dale
Semantix (UK) Ltd
19 October 2011

2. “The future is already
here...it’s just not very
evenly distributed.”
Source: William Ford Gibson

3. Big You are
Data...
here
the next
frontier

4. Some Data on Big Data
£400 to buy a disk drive that can store all the world’s music
5 billion mobile phones in use in 2010
30 billion items of content shared on Facebook every
month
40% projected growth of data per year vs. 5% growth in global IT spending
€250 billion potential value to Europe’s public sector
administration - more than the GDP of Greece
140,000 - 190,000 data analysts and 1.5 million
more data savvy managers needed to take advantage of big data (in US).
$600 billion potential annual consumer surplus from using
personal location data globally
Source: McKinsey Global Institute, May 2011

5. Big Data - what is it • Datasets so large they
are difficult to work with
and where does is with using standard
database management
come from? •
tools
Larger and larger
datasets allow analysts to
spot business trends and
opportunities.
• Growing exponentially -
sources include mobile
devices, cameras, RFID,
medical, music, wireless
sensor networks, real-
time/geospatial tracking,
location-based services
ebooks etc.
• More and more data
being ‘stored’ in the
Cloud

6. From Data Scarcity To Data Abundance

7. Information Being Presented In New and
Compelling Ways
Source: Guardian -http://www.guardian.co.uk/

8. Where are we going with
technology?

9. Technology cycles
tend to last 10 years.
Mainframe
computing
1960’s
Mini
computing Personal
1970’s computing
1980’s Desktop
Internet Mobile
computing Internet
1990’s computing
2000’s

10. Mobile will be bigger than
desktop Internet within 5
years.
Source: Morgan Stanley Internet Trends Report 4 Dec 2010

11. There will be 7 billion mobile phones by 2012 –
more than the global population
More than 4 billion people Mobile will
around the world now use overtake
cell phones, and for 450 desktop within
million of those people the 5 years
Web is a fully mobile
experience.
12 million mobile
phone users in
Afghanistan (pop
30 million)

12. More computing power in your pocket or
handbag than on your desktop

13. One size doesn’t fit all
• Corporate PC and IT standards becoming
increasingly irrelevant
• Users far more savvy on what tools they need to
do the job
• Let the business define the risk….not the IT
department

14. Growth In Location-based
Services

15. It’s not the device, it’s the application!
Software applications
becoming increasingly
commoditised. Users
happy to use and discard
when no longer relevant

16. Social networking overtakes email
Source: Morgan Stanley Internet Trends Report 4 Dec 2010

17. Facebook
represents
28% of the
current Internet
population
Source: Pingdom
In just over two short years, Facebook
has quintupled in size to a network that
touches more than 500 million users.
More than 4 billion people around the
world now use cell phones, and for 450
million of those people the Web is a fully

18. So, what does all this mean?
• We’re going to continue to generate data faster than it can be
consumed or understood. Most of it will not be held inside the
enterprise.
• Information visualisation techniques will help us extract meaning
from the increasing volume of data.
• What happens in Vegas stays on Facebook/Twitter/Google – no point
worrying about retention schedules for social networks.
• Mobile platforms and mobile working will define the future of the
workplace. Design for mobile, consider the PC – not the other way
around.
• Apps will commoditise the software market and deliver cheaper,
simpler, more efficient and more relevant services to users

19. Never make predictions, especially
about the future.
Casey Stengel, baseball player and manager, 1891 - 1975

20. Thank you!
Email: Steve.dale@semantix.co.uk
Profile: http://about.me/stephendale

21. References
Morgan Stanley Internet Trends:
http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/Internet_Trends_0
41210.pdf
Internet World Stats: http://www.internetworldstats.com
UK Public Spending: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/may/17/uk-
public-spending-departments-money-cuts#zoomed-picture
McKinsey, Big Data: The Next Frontier For Innovation....
http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/big_data/pdfs/MGI_big_data_full_rep
ort.pdf
Emerging Transition to Social Business Models - Dion Hincliffe, Dachis Group:
http://www.dachisgroup.com/author/dion-hinchcliffe/
Title image sourced from Milton Masoapatali
Other photos and images sourced from Google images and iStock Photos.