1. Don’t Just Survive, Use IoE To Thrive from the Data Avalanche
Joseph M. Bradley - IoE Evangelist and Vice President Cisco
Can you feel the rumbling? Once firm ground now feels shaky. And that rushing sound you hear
is the avalanche of data that threatens to bury businesses that aren’t prepared. Research firm IDC
estimates that by 2020, the amount of digital information will explode to 40,000 Exabytes or 40
trillion GB (more than 5,200 GB for every man, woman, and child according to EMC). And
while natural avalanches end quickly, it’s clear that the data avalanche is gaining momentum.
This data deluge has significant ramifications for companies and public sector organizations that
are seeking answers to questions such as: How do you create insightful information from
immense amounts of data? How much of your limited IT budget should you spend on Big Data
solutions to protect your competitive position? What innovations are possible from new insights?
How can these innovations transform your business?
By helping customers address these questions, Big Data has become big business. Companies
that have helped companies gather, store, and turn data into usable information have generated
billions of dollars (and growing) in business value. A.T. Kearney forecasts global spending on
Big Data hardware, software and services will grow at a CAGR of 30% through 2018 – reaching
a total market size of $114B.
But, Big Data is nothing without big judgment. The quote from A.T. Kearney’s report explains
this well. “While the massive wave of data promises to transform both top and bottom lines, few
organizations have been able to operationalize and monetize this promise for their enterprise.”
The quote continues: “Successfully managing big data requires tying together the right
technology, operating model, and people.” This is where the Internet of Everything (IoE) comes
in. With IoE connecting people, process, data, and things, we believe the potential value from
Big Data will grow even faster as companies capture a greater share of the $19 trillion in IoE
value that will be created over the next decade.
In addition to the projected 50 billion devices that will be connected to the Internet by 2020, the
concept of “lighting up dark assets” gives us confidence in our prediction. Dark assets are things,
that when connected generate data that can be analyzed to provide new insights that business can
use to improve their processes and help people do their jobs better. The end result is greater
business value from new revenue sources, lower costs, and greater efficiencies.
For example, one of the world’s largest retailers is using IoE and Big Data to optimize
checkouts. Video cameras provide data about line length and time in the queue. Analytics
software presents this information as useful insights so that store managers can make staffing
decisions in real time. With Cisco’s Fast Retail solution, the retailer can save $50-70,000 a year
for each large store. They can also reassign 2-3 full time employees to other tasks and customers
can benefit from a 50% plus reduction in average wait times, helping to improve their perception
of the retailer.

2. This example highlights the power of Big Data when combined with IoE. Companies from
manufacturers that want to streamline production, reduce time-to-market, and increase product
quality; to financial services firms seeking to upsell clients can leverage insights to improve their
business outcomes.
Click on these links to not just survive, but thrive from IoE and Big Data.
Tags: #unlockingbigdata Joseph Bradley, analytics, Big Data, dark assets, fast retail, Internet of
Everything, internet of things, IoE