It's that time of year again; time for technology experts and service providers alike to make their top predictions for 2016. It's no surprise that big data ranks highly yet again, as companies look for new ways to leverage this resource and make sure they've got the right staff for the job. Here are four of the biggest big data predictions for the coming year:
Big To Bigger
Predicting future changes in the world of technology can be a tricky endeavour. New products and innovations are revealed so rapidly that even experts may be caught unprepared. Even so, that doesn't mean looking into the future is without merit as it helps businesses and industries plan ahead. One of the most important aspects of any organization’s operations is the use of storage, particularly as more of the world becomes driven by data. Current ways of tackling storage challenges are already proving inadequate, necessitating new technologies and strategies for companies both large and small.
In today’s digital world big data almost sounds like an over prescribed medication. A company has revenue struggles? Use big data. Another needs more marketing ROI? Big data. But really, we have only scratched the surface of utilizing big data to its full, practical potential. Big data is a metaphorical iceberg, with the portion above water being structured data and the massive portion below the surface being unstructured data. The challenge for companies today is tackling unstructured data to unlock the full potential of big data computing and analytics.
While the overall job market may still be struggling, for those in the field of big data, the opportunities are plentiful. We’re currently in the middle of a big data boom, where companies of all shapes and sizes are finding ways to use big data to grow and be more successful than ever before. Businesses are in the hunt for people that possess the right skills for big data jobs that have been rapidly emerging in recent years. Higher education is also responding, instituting programs and new degrees to keep up with the demand. In a field that is still ripe with innovation, changes are expected to happen on a fairly regular basis.
Last December, International Data Corporation presented a top ten list of technology predictions for 2014. Among those predictions, IDC claims that enterprise spending on Big Data analytics services in 2014 will increase by 21 percent over 2013, to exceed $4.5 Billion. Obviously companies are starting to recognize that their vast pools of data hold immense potential.
One would think it should not be so difficult to find information about the upcoming SharePoint 2010 and the features it will include. I have been especially interested in SharePoint and its inclusion of CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services). CMIS is an interoperability specification that will allow for compliant clients (such as Joomla! and Drupal) and repositories (such as SharePoint and Alfresco) to interoperate and share content across information silos. For the past few months, I've been keeping my eyes and ears open for any details on the status of Microsoft Sharepoint incorporating CMIS. Sadly, there is little information to be found.
Although Microsoft announced their support for CMIS in September 2008, there has been little word from Microsoft on when we'll see CMIS available for SharePoint users and whether CMIS will be incorporated into SharePoint 2010. Arbindo Chattopadhyay on his MSDN blog recently discussed the benefits of CMIS, but he was very tight lipped whether we'll be seeing CMIS in SharePoint 2010. In fact he doesn't think we'll be hearing much about CMIS in SharePoint until CMIS is out of draft form.