Cover -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 What Is Big Data, Really? -- Technically Speaking -- Why Data Size Doesn't Matter -- What Big Data Typically Means to Executives -- The "Data Is Omnipotent" Group -- The "Data Is Just Another Spreadsheet" Group -- Big Data Positioned in Executive Speak -- Summary -- Chapter 2 How to Formulate a Winning Big Data Strategy -- The Head Eats the Tail -- How to End the "Who's on First" Conundrum -- Changing Perspectives of Big Data -- User Perception Versus the Data-Harvesting Reality -- The Reality of Facebook's Predictive Analytics -- Facebook's Data Harvesting Goes Even Further -- Using Facebook to Open Minds on the Possibilities and Potential of Big Data -- Professional Perceptions Versus Data Realities -- From Perception to Cognitive Bias -- Finding the Big Data Diviners -- Next Step: Embracing Ignorance -- Where to Start -- Begin at the End -- When Action Turns into Inaction -- Identifying Targets and Aiming Your Sights -- Covering All the Bases -- How to Get Best Practices and Old Mindsets Out of Your Way -- Addressing People's Fears of Big Data -- Ending the Fear of the Unknown -- Tempering Assurances for Change Is About to Come -- The Feared Machine's Reign Is not Certain -- Mankind Still Has a Role -- Reaching the Stubborn Few -- Answer the Questions No One Has Asked -- Keep Asking What Is Possible -- Look for End Goals -- Cross-Pollinate the Interpretative Team -- Add Business Analysts and Key End Users to the Team -- Add a Chief Data Officer to Gather and Manage the Data -- Start Small and Build Up and Out -- Prototypes and Iterations Strategies -- A Word About Adding Predictive Analytics to Your Data Strategy -- Democratize Data but Expect Few to Use It (for Now) -- Your Strategy Is a Living Document -- Nourish It Accordingly -- Summary -- Chapter 3 How to Ask the "Right" Questions of Big Data.

Collaborate on the Questions -- The Magic 8 Ball Effect -- Translating Human Questions to Software Math -- Checklist for Forming the "Right" Questions -- Summary -- Chapter 4 How to Pick the "Right" Data Sources -- You Need More Data Sources (Variety), Not Just More Data (Volume) -- Why Your Own Data Isn't Enough and Will Never Be Enough, No Matter How Large It Grows -- Data Hoarding versus Catch and Release -- One-Dimensional Traps -- The Mysterious Case of the Diaper-Buying Dog-Owner -- The Value in Upsizing Transactional Data -- The Limits to Social Media Analysis -- The Monetary Value of Data Bought and Sold -- Even Hackers Are Having Trouble Making Money on Data -- Evaluating the Source -- Outdated Models Invite Disruptors -- What to Look for When Buying Data -- Identifying What Outside Data You Need -- A Word About Structured vs. Unstructured Data -- Preventing Human Bias in Data Selection -- The Danger of Data Silos -- Steps to Take to Ensure You're Using All the Data Sources You Need -- Summary -- Chapter 5 Why the Answer to Your Big Data Question Resembles a Rubik's Cube -- What Is Actionable Data Anyway? -- The Difference Among Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Analytics -- Descriptive Analytics -- Predictive Analytics -- Prescriptive Analytics -- Types of Questions That Get Straight Answers -- When Questions Lead to More Questions -- Types of Questions That Require Interpretation-The Rubik's Cube -- Using Data Visualizations to Aid the Discovery Process -- Summary -- Chapter 6 The Role of Real-Time Analytics in Rolling Your Strategy -- Examining Real-Time Delusions and Time Capsules -- Using Static versus Rolling Strategies -- A Word About Change Management in Moving to a Rolling Strategy -- Your Choices in Analytics -- Using Data from Human Experts' Brains to Speed Analytics -- When Real-Time Is Too Late, Then What? -- Summary.

Chapter 7 The Big Data Value Proposition and Monetization -- Determining ROI in Uncharted Territory -- The Lesson in the Skill of the Painter versus the Value of the Paintbrush -- Funny Money and Fuzzy ROI -- The Confusion in Cost -- Why Cost Isn't an Issue -- Putting the Project Before the Business Case -- Calculating Actual Cost -- Where Value Actually Resides -- How to Make the Business Case from an IT Perspective -- How to Make the Business Case from a Non-IT Perspective -- Formulas for Calculating Project Returns -- Where the ROI Math Gets Simpler -- The Big Question: Should You Sell Your Data? -- Selling Insights -- Rarity Equals Cha-Ching! -- Summary -- Chapter 8 Rise of the Collaborative Economy and Ways to Profit from It -- Data Is Knowledge and an Asset -- Big Data's Biggest Impact: Model Shattering -- The Sharing Economy -- The Maker Movement -- Co-Innovation -- Examples of New Models Emerging in the New Collaborative Economy -- Agile Is Out, Fluid Is In -- Using Big Data to Strategize New Models -- Summary -- Chapter 9 The Privacy Conundrum -- The Day the Whistle Blew and Killed the Myth of Individual Privacy -- Dangers in the Aggregate -- The Phone Call Heard Around the World -- How John Q. Public's and Veterans' Data Help Other Nations Plan Attacks -- Data Proliferation Escalates -- Drawing the Line on Individual Privacy -- The Business Side of the Privacy Conundrum -- The Four Big Shifts in Data Collection -- Data Invasiveness Changes -- Data Variety Changes -- Data Integration Changes -- Data Scope Changes -- The Business Question You Must Ask -- Who Really Owns the Data? -- The Role of Existing Laws and Actions in Setting Precedent -- The Snowden Effect on Privacy Policy -- The Fallacies of Consent -- Values in Personal versus Pooled Data -- The Fallacy in Anonymizing Data -- Balancing Individual Privacy with Individual Benefit.

When Data Collection Could Make You or Your Company Liable -- The Business Value of Transparency -- The One Truth That Data Practitioners Must Never Forget -- Summary -- Chapter 10 Use Cases in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community -- Situational Awareness and Visualization -- Information Correlation for Problem Solving (the "Connect the Dots" Problem) -- Information Search and Discovery in Overwhelming Amounts of Data (the "Needle in Haystack" Problem) -- Enterprise Cyber Security Data Management -- Logistical Information, Including Asset Catalogs Across Extensive/Dynamic Enterprises -- Enhanced Healthcare -- Open Source Information -- In-Memory Data Modernization -- The Enterprise Data Hub -- Big Data Use Cases in Weaponry and War -- Summary -- Chapter 11 Use Cases in Governments -- Effects of Big Data Trends on Governmental Data -- United Nations Global Pulse Use Cases -- Federal Government (Non-DoD or IC) Use Cases -- State Government Use Cases -- Local Government Use Cases -- Law Enforcement Use Cases -- Summary -- Chapter 12 Use Cases in Security -- Everything Is on the Internet -- Data as Friend and Foe -- Use Cases in Antivirus/Malware Efforts -- How Target Got Hit in the Bull's Eye -- Big Data as Both Challenge and Benefit to Businesses -- Where Virtual and Real Worlds Collide -- Machine Data Mayhem -- The Farmer's Security Dilemma -- The Internet of Things Repeats the Farmer's Security Dilemma Ad Infinitum -- Current and Future Use of Analytics in Security -- Summary -- Chapter 13 Use Cases in Healthcare -- Solving the Antibiotics Crisis -- Using Big Data to Cure Diseases -- From Google to the CDC -- CDC's Diabetes Interactive Atlas -- Project Data Sphere -- Sage Bionetworks -- The Biohacker Side of the Equation -- EHRs, EMRs, and Big Data -- Medicare Data Goes Public -- Summary.

Chapter 14 Use Cases in Small Businesses and Farms -- Big Data Applies to Small Business -- The Line Between Hype and Real-World Limitations -- Picking the Right Tool for the Job -- Examples of External Data Sources You Might Want to Use -- A Word of Caution to Farmers on Pooling or Sharing Data -- The Claim that the Data Belongs to the Farmer -- The Claim that the Data Is Used Only to "Help" the Farmer Farm More Profitably -- The Claim that the Farmer's Data Will Remain Private -- Money, Money, Money: How Big Data Is Broadening Your Borrowing Power -- PayPal Working Capital -- Amazon Capital Services -- Kabbage -- Summary -- Chapter 15 Use Cases in Transportation -- Revving Up Data in a Race for Money -- The Disrupting Fly in the Data Ointment -- Data Wins Are Not Eternal -- Data Use in Trains, Planes, and Ships -- Connected Vehicles: They're Probably Not What You Think They Are -- Data Leads to Innovation and Automation -- The Rise of Smart Cities -- Examples of Transportation Innovations Happening Now -- Data and the Driverless Car -- Connected Infrastructure -- Car Insurance Branded Data Collection Devices -- Unexpected Data Liabilities for the Sector -- Summary -- Chapter 16 Use Cases in Energy -- The Data on Energy Myths and Assumptions -- EIA Energy Data Repository -- EIA Energy Data Table Browsers -- Smart Meter Data Is MIA -- The EIA's API and Data Sets -- International Implications and Cooperation -- Public-Private Collaborative Energy Data Efforts -- Utility Use Cases -- Energy Data Use Cases for Companies Outside the Energy Sector -- Summary -- Chapter 17 Use Cases in Retail -- Old Tactics in a Big Data Re-Run -- Retail Didn't Blow It -- the Customers Changed -- Brand Mutiny and Demon Customers -- Customer Experience Began to Matter Again -- Big Data and the Demon Customer Revival -- Why Retail Has Struggled with Big Data.

Ways Big Data Can Help Retail.