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The chatter about big data seems to be inescapable. Both mainstream media outlets like the New York Times and Forbes, as well as tech outlets like InfoWorld, constantly publish articles discussing big data. It's hard to fathom that until recently big data analytics was a term that only crossed the minds of data scientists or statisticians.

Clearly, the tide has turned. In its report, "Big Data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity," McKinsey Global Institute writes, "While this topic might once have concerned only a few data geeks, big data is now relevant for leaders across every sector, and consumers of products and services stand to benefit from its application." 


As more enterprises and SMBs recognize the value in big data analytics, projects are on the rise. But this increase in volume does not always yield an increase in projects' success rates. A recent InfoChimp survey has shown that a majority of data analytics projects still fail. 

Why do so many of these pricey, time-consuming projects go down the tubes? According to the survey, the two main reasons cited for failure were:

1. a lack of expertise and talent
   • most companies (80%) say they’re having a hard time finding the right expertise for their projects
   • most companies (73%) say understanding the technology required is difficult
2. lack of business context around the data

The trick to executing a successful analytics project is finding a capable vendor – with a powerful backend and experienced data scientists – to handle the work. 

Let's take a look at how a unique approach to data analytics, Solution as a Service (SolaaS), can help guarantee analytics success. 

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Big Data

There are many definitions of big data floating around, but Forbes does a good job summing it up, writing, "Big data is a collection of data from traditional and digital sources inside and outside your company that represents a source for ongoing discovery and analysis." It's important to remember that big data encompasses both unstructured data, like social media comments, and structured data, like fixed fields within a form or file, like a spreadsheet. 

A recent survey of big data professionals sheds light on how important big data and data analytics has become. In this survey, 77% of respondents reported that they consider big data analytics a priority. Additionally, 72% said that one of the top benefits of big data analytics is that it enhances the speed and accuracy of business decisions. Finally, nearly three-quarters of midsized and large companies claimed to have plans for, or to be currently working on big data initiatives.

These numbers are not trivial and show how big data has begun to pervade all business sectors. Still, business leaders should walk into data analytics with their eyes open. In reality, few companies outside enterprises like Facebook and Twitter have access to legitimate big data, pulled from its hundreds of millions of users.

But whether you are dealing with reams of big data or a much smaller, internal data network, businesses of all sizes benefit from data analytics. 

How Solution as a Service Helps Analytics Projects Succeed

As mentioned above, the most common weaknesses in failed data analytics projects include a lack of talent, and results that do not address business goals or user needs. These shortcomings could be the result of a weak backend, inexperienced data analysts, or a lack of collaboration between the client and the analytics vendor. 

Solution as a Service (SolaaS) eliminates these deficiencies by joining a powerful analytics backend and a proprietary visualization library with a team of experienced data scientists. These analysts work closely with clients to address their unique business goals and user needs. A single vendor combines these elements, which makes SolaaS a unique approach to analytics. Because a single vendor provides both software and services, analysts have intimate knowledge of the software with which they are working. 

The SolaaS analysts have experience across a variety of business sectors and identify and predict relationships among pieces of data that could yield actionable insights. A SolaaS vendor, like PolyVista, offers flexible month-to-month, one-time, or multi-month contracts, as well as proof of concept projects.  

Whether the client has big data at its fingertips, has access to a smaller data set or must rely on competitive analysis, SolaaS can target that data and reveal insights that lead to improved, data-driven business decisions. 

Summary

Big data remains a buzzword in the world of analytics. Reports and studies have shown the benefits of big data analytics projects across a variety of business sectors. Armed with this knowledge, an increasing number of business leaders and stakeholders are embarking on analytics projects. Still, a high rate of projects fail, often due to a lack of experienced talent or because the results did not address business goals. A Solution as a Service approach to analytics prevents these common pitfalls by combining a powerful backend and proprietary frontend with experienced analysts. These analysts work in close collaboration with clients to address their goals and user needs.