Logicalis US Shares Three Big Data Hurdles and How to Overcome Them

NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- "Big Data" is one of the most talked about ways to unlock a company's competitive advantage, yet accessing and analyzing vast amounts of data in real time has become a tall order for many corporate IT departments.  Despite the advantages of big data and all it has to offer, one notable technology research firm¹ says 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies will remain unable to exploit big data for competitive advantage through 2015.  But why?  According to Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), there are three primary hurdles keeping the promise of big data at arm's length: too much data, too little time, and too small of a budget.  To help, Logicalis is offering CIOs and other IT pros a complimentary, downloadable white paper, "Making Big Data Work."

"One of the chief problems CIOs face today is having too much data.  So much data is being collected today that it can't even be analyzed with traditional tools," says Dan Quirk, SAP National Practice Leader, Logicalis US.  "There's a beverage distributor in the Northeast, for example, and they're using point-of-sale information and coupling that with production and inventory data to better manage how they position their products during a promotion period.  If the product isn't available, it can be moved very quickly based on the analytics that they're running.  A number of Logicalis' clients are using SAP HANA's big data management platform running on a purpose-built, in-memory hardware appliance for both data storage and data analytics for exactly these kinds of analytical and transactional applications."

"Two of the other hurdles CIOs face in implementing big data strategies are having too little time within their own IT departments and too little budget to satisfy all their internal users' needs," says Samad Ali, Vice President, HP Solutions, Logicalis US.  "This is when making smart decisions counts most, and that means choosing cost-effective solutions that have full vendor support.  The low cost of RAM makes SAP HANA a strong option for many of our clients, and delivering it on an HP appliance, for example, gives them the cost advantages of in-memory computing bundled with managed services from Logicalis that give their IT staff peace of mind."

Overcoming Three Hurdles to Big Data and Analytics Adoption

1. Too Much Data – Collecting data is the easy part.  Managing it, storing it and analyzing it is the hard part.  Very few companies today will say they have too little data on hand, but that data is about to grow by leaps and bounds as the Internet of Things (IoT), a concept that uses sensors and actuators embedded in everyday objects from cattle to cars, allows massive amounts of data to be captured and reported via wireless networks to enterprise organizations eager to learn all they can about the markets they serve.  The problem is, all that data will need to be managed, accessed and stored.  IT pros who know their companies are headed in this direction need to plan now so they will be ready to analyze and use that data later, which may mean some consolidation of the organization's infrastructure so information can be more easily managed as it is created.
2. Too Little Time – Implementing a big data strategy will create change within an organization – changes to business processes, infrastructure, economics and even the company's organizational chart.  Of course, that all means change within the IT department as well, something that can be taxing on an already busy IT staff.  Turning to an IT solution provider or big data and analytics (BDA) consulting firm as an additional resource can take the pressure off internal IT team members and, ultimately, using an expert in the field from the start can make the difference in the success of a BDA project.
3. Too Small of a Budget – Big data discussions can lead to conflict between the information management and technology sides of a business.  An integrated approach that provides instant access to data via a unified system may be ideal, but it can be costly.  If budget is an issue, consider starting with a big data open source database like Hadoop, then integrating an in-memory platform and analytics solution as needs dictate.

Want to Learn More?

• Find out how to turn data into decisions: http://ow.ly/CAHaz.
• Download a Logicalis eBook, "The Need for Speed," and access Logicalis' SAP HANA toolkit here: http://ow.ly/CAHd3.  
• Learn how to accelerate and scale business analytics with HP and SAP HANA solutions delivered by Logicalis: http://ow.ly/CAHfS.

¹Gartner, "Big Data," Gartner.com, 2014

About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international IT solutions and managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge and expertise in communications and collaboration, data center and cloud services, and managed services.

Logicalis employs nearly 3,700 people worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design, specify, deploy and manage complex ICT infrastructures to meet the needs of almost 6,000 corporate and public sector customers.  To achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM, CA Technologies, EMC, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of $1.6 billion, from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific, and is fast establishing itself as one of the leading IT and Communications solution integrators specializing in the areas of advanced technologies and services.

The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London AIM Stock Exchanges, with revenues of over $5 billion.

For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.

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Media contacts:
Lisa Dreher, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Logicalis US
[email protected]
425-201-8111
www.us.logicalis.com

Karen Franse, Communication Strategy Group for Logicalis US
[email protected] 
866-997-2424
www.gocsg.com

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