Big data projects: just jump right in!

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to provide a roadmap for organizations to build big data projects and reap the most rewards out of their data. It covers all aspects of big data project implementation, from data collection to final project evaluation. Design/methodology/approach In each stage of the proposed roadmap, we introduce different sets of information and communications technology platforms and tools to assist IT professionals and managers in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods and technologies involved and in making the best use of them. The authors also complete the picture by illustrating the process through different real-world big data projects implementations. Findings By adopting the proposed roadmap, companies and organizations willing to establish an effective and rewarding big data solution can tackle all implementation challenges in each stage of their big data project setup: from strategy elaboration to final project evaluation. Their expectations of privacy and security are also baked, in advance, into the big data project design. Originality/value While technologies to build and run big data projects have started to mature and proliferate over the last couple of years, exploiting all potentials of big data is still at a relatively early stage. The value of this paper consists in providing a clear and systematic methodology to move businesses and organizations from an opinion-operated era where humans’ skills are a necessity to a data-driven and smart era where big data analytics plays a major role in discovering unexpected insights in the oceans of data routinely generated or collected.