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Big Data and standards market research report by BSI and Circle Research.

The British Standards Institute (BSI) has published the findings of a research report into possible ways in which industry standards may be useful for the further development of the Big Data market.

In their report, the BSI has confirmed the potential benefits of organisations utilising Big Data. These include benefits for the individual organisations who can use Big Data to completely revolutionise their business models by becoming data-driven; but it also confirms the potential national benefits. Big Data could benefit the UK economy to the tune of £216 billion by 2017, with the creation of 58,000 jobs. The BSI report highlights however that with these opportunities also come challenges. The BSI identifies in its report a number of challenges facing organisations looking to use Big Data tools and technologies. These challenges, as seen by the BSI, cover technical, cultural and perceptual issues.

Given the possible growth prospects matched with a series of challenges, this report suggests that new guidance, in the form of standards, are needed. The BSI believes there are six areas where Big Data standards could provide benefits to businesses, however they have highlighted three options as particularly beneficial. These cover the use of metadata, methods to communicate the benefits of Big Data and the need for a ‘How to’ guide for businesses interested in utilising Big Data.

The report also recognises that given the Big Data industry in the UK is still not fully matured any standards suggested must take into account the fact that Big Data and Data Analytics may change dramatically over the course of the next few years.

The BSI’s full report can be found at: http://shop.bsigroup.com/forms/The-Big-Data-and-market-research-report/