There’s a lot of attention now being focused on retailing and big data. So, what is meant by “big data”?

According to Mike Gualtieri of Forrester:

“Big data is the frontier of a firm’s ability to store, process, and access (SPA) all the data it needs to operate effectively, make decisions, reduce risks, and serve customers. Can you capture and store the data? Can you cleanse, enrich, and analyze the data? Can you retrieve, search, integrate, and visualize the data?”

“A pragmatic definition of big data must acknowledge that: Exponential data growth makes it continuously difficult to manage — store, process, and access. Data contains nonobvious information that firms can discover to improve business outcomes. Measures of data are relative; one firm’s big data is another firm’s peanut. A pragmatic definition must be actionable for both IT and business professionals.”

Take a look at this infographic to learn more about big data.

Infographic by Column Five Media.