by Srini Vinnakota

While some still consider Big Data a tool confined to behemoths like Google and Amazon, an ever-increasing number of B2B organisations of all sizes are moving beyond the constraints of traditional business intelligence by taking on the challenge of harnessing Big Data.

As interest in Big Data increases, so do the number of tools available to address its demands. But looking for answers outside of your organisation presents new challenges, temptations and roadblocks.

Lots of companies talk about social networking and strategy, but few do anything about it, and this is nowhere more true than at midsized companies, according to a couple of recent studies, said Erik Sherman on inc.com. The irony is that their CEOs increasingly are interested in integrating social into their strategies.

One survey shows that 45% of CEOs of companies with between 100 and 1,000 employees thought that they needed a more open environment and greater use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms. That number is about double what it was last year.

Simon Hill examines the past, present, and future of NFC and mobile payments.

Mobile payments. NFC. RFID. Digital Wallets. We’ve been hearing about these buzzwords for years. Entire companies have thrown their weight behind various mobile payment systems on many occasions, including Google. Yet, despite the attention the space has got, mainstream adoption remains elusive. According to a Gartner forecast back in May, there will be 448 million mobile payment users transacting $617 billion worth of business by 2016. That could be the case, but there are some important questions that remain unanswered.

Will 3D printing be the most important – and amazing – technological development of the next decade?

Think about it. Potentially we will all have the ability to download templates from the web, purchase the basic ingredients we need (the ‘ink’) and then create whatever we want, in our homes, offices or wherever? According to the BBC, printers for home use cost around £1,000 which seems to be the standard ‘starting price’ for new technology kit, and which so far at least, have quickly tumbled.

People, products or processes…. When IT projects go over budget, deadlines are missed or scope reduced, where do you start when it comes to finding the cause?

It was Dot Olonovich who sparked a wide-ranging debate on the Business Technology Forum and which resulted in some to-the-point remarks. “Poor Planning start to end,” said Leonard Paskel. “People, people, people,” added Steve Long. “Misunderstanding requirements,” said Zeeshan Rizvi. “Sheer incompetence,” said Douglas Topken. “Scope creep,” was Ken Harvey’s view. “The project was either improperly scoped in the beginning, or things just begin to change as the project materialises.”