Christopher Surdak - Data Crush: How the Information Tidal Wave is Driving New Business Opportunities

how the information
tidal wave is driving new
business opportunities

CHRISTOPHER SURDAK

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Surdak, Christopher.

Data crush : how the information tidal wave is driving new business

opportunities / Christopher Surdak.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-3374-4

ISBN-10: 0-8144-3374-X

1. Information technologyManagement. 2. Marketing researchData processing. 3. Business intelligenceData processing. 4. Big data. I. Title.

HD30.2.S87 2014

658.4'038dc23 2013035087

2014 Christopher Surdak.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

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Printing number

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to
my wife Jeanne and my daughter Ryleigh.
You are my motivation and inspiration,
and I appreciate your love and support.

I would also like to dedicate this book
to the memory of my friend and colleague
Thomas Bookwalter Sr.
Thomas had a tremendous, positive impact upon
everyone he met, and we lost him far too soon.

As President and CEO of the Association of Information and Image Management (AIIM), I get the chance to interact with thousands of information management experts on a daily basis. AIIM is a key resource for its more than 100,000 members, who are at the forefront of the struggle to manage information sprawl.

In this role, Ive worked with Chris Surdak for several years, including coauthoring an ebook on social media and collaboration management. Through these interactions, it is clear that Chris has deep experience with the challenges of managing data and information in our daily lives, while trying to maintain some semblance of control.

A range of market forces are bringing dramatic changes in our world, including mobility, cloud computing, social media, and online commerce. While each of these forces is a powerful driver of both data growth and business change, it is their interdependence and mutual feedbacks that will truly transform the business landscape. Collectively, they are bringing about changes in our world that will impact nearly every aspect of global business.

Both companies and individuals will be affected by these changes, and it is critical to understand what the new business environment will look like and what might be your place in it. Part of this understanding is to ensure that your business remains relevant in a world awash in digital devices and the data that they create; part of this understanding is to figure out new ways to thrive in this world through transforming both your organization and yourself.

In Data Crush, Surdak provides specific insights into what the future of our deeply connected, highly digitized world will look like and what needs to be done to compete effectively in the near future. Chris discusses how data has become the currency of business and will be the basis of every effective business decision as the world grows more interconnected and complex.

For years, organizations have had systems and strategies for managing their moneytheir financial assets. They also usually have systems to manage their employeestheir human assets. They often have ERP systems for managing their physical assets. But far too few organizations have systems and strategies for managing their most important assets in a digital worldtheir information assets. However, it is these information assets that will determine the future winners and losers in a global battle for the ever-shortening attention span of digitally addicted consumers.

I believe youll find this book both entertaining and useful. I know that I did, and I find that the advice that the author provides can lessen the impact data overload will have on your sanity, and possibly, help keep your company on top of the data crush, instead of beneath it!

John Mancini, CEO, Association of Information
and Image Management (AIIM), March, 2013

As a technology consultant, I am motivated to stay up-to-date on the latest and greatest new technologies and trends. During the past decade, Ive come to recognize an undercurrent in the world of technology and the Internet, a force that was both an enabler of new technologies and a potential barrier to their advancement: data growth.

If youre like most connected people, you start your day by logging into one or more email accounts to see how your day is going to go. If youre an average person, youre wading through about 150 emails each day, trying to determine what deserves your attention and what can be deleted. Perhaps youve noticed that over the last decade the amount of email you get every day has been slowly and steadily increasing. You may also have noticed that many of these emails show that some third parties seem to know an awful lot about what you do or do not like, where you shop, where you eat, and so on.

Further, if you also work in or with information technology, youve probably noted that more and more of your work involves dealing with an ever-growing mountain of data. Regardless of what you do professionally, our world is becoming flooded with data and the more we use it and depend upon it, the more we seem to generate.

My aim in Data Crush is to make some sense of this explosion of data in our world. Well be looking at where all of this data growth comes from, what is driving it, the impacts that this growth will have on your business, and how business must respond to succeed in a world awash with information.

Six major trends are driving the growth and significance of online data for both individuals and organizations. As they converge upon and reinforce each other, they lead to increasingly complicated information management issues. The trends are: