If you’ve ever wondered what Big Data is, SQL Server Central has a nice primer entitled Big Data for SQL folks: The Technologies (Part I)
No, your GP data probably isn’t Big Data. Even if you have a lot of it, it’s already structured (whether you like the structure or not). So how could this be useful? Here’s an example:
We have a client for whom restaurant cleanliness is a big part of their business. With the beta of its new GeoFlow tool for Excel, Microsoft is showing off using publicly available databases on restaurant cleanliness for Seattle, including the types and frequency of violations. This is one city and it’s huge.
Project that across the country with each municipality having variations in types of reporting and storage and you definitely have big data. Now imagine taking that data on restaurant cleanliness and mashing it up against client data and sales data. You know which of your clients to go sell more to and you have a list of businesses with specific problems that you can help solve.
Big data is still in its infancy but you’re going to see more and more of this.