Big Data as a Service

Welcome to our Friday WRAP – one thought-provoking idea to think about over the weekend.

This week’s idea suggests a framework for Big-Data-As-A-Service (BDaaS).  In the age of SaaS, PaaS, and many other as-a-service offerings, BDaaS may be the next big thing.  It’s the topic of a recent article by Varun Sharma, an Enterprise Architect and “as-a-service” evangelist.  In it he describes a Big Data-as-a-Service Operational Reference Architecture with each layer offered as a service.  To take advantage of BDaaS, an organization would need to create a clear roadmap, and description, of what services would make sense to utilize as a service compared to doing the services in-house.

Successful Big Data-as-a-Service implementation would require close collaboration between Enterprise Architects, Data Architects, Database admin, BI and DW SMEs, SOA experts, InfoSec representatives and business strategists.

But the value can be tremendous.  With large data sets that take more processing power and expertise than a single company might have available, BDaaS begins to make sense.  Analyzing a big data set from a 3rd party vendor for an occasional project might also be a good reason for BDaaS.  The objective of any BI/Analytics program is valuable insights, not the processing capability itself.  And if those insights can be obtained in a secure, but less costly, mode then there is opportunity.  Hurdles abound and not every data source, BI program, nor analytics process is a candidate for BDaaS, but certainly there are some for which this just makes sense.

Where might BDaaS make sense for your organization?

That’s a WRAP!  have a wonderful Weekend!