Behind the buzz words of Big Data, you will find it referenced and articulated that big data is all about three major concepts known as the "3V's":

Volume: Many factors contribute to the increase in data volume. Transaction-based data stored through the years. Unstructured data streaming in from social media. Increasing amounts of sensor and machine-to-machine data being collected. In the past, excessive data volume was a storage issue. But with decreasing storage costs, other issues emerge, including how to determine relevance within large data volumes and how to use analytics to create value from relevant data.

Velocity. Data is streaming in at unprecedented speed and must be dealt with in a timely manner. RFID tags, sensors and smart metering are driving the need to deal with torrents of data in near-real time. Reacting quickly enough to deal with data velocity is a challenge for most organisations.

Variety . Data today comes in all types of formats. Structured, numeric data in traditional databases. Information created from line-of-business applications. Unstructured text documents, email, video, audio, stock ticker data and financial transactions. Managing, merging and governing different varieties of data is something many organizations still grapple with.

However we prefer to say that it is much simpler that this. We are moving into a new era "The Data Driven Age" and this is being fueled by Big Data, that is why we would rather say that "Big Data is the New OIL!" and like oil you can create and refine a rich and diverse range of products to enable your business in every dimensions. Some of these key new products are:

Information

Insight

Knowledge

But most of all we believe that information and knowledge is beautiful and that these new creations should be easy to understand, something you should be able to play and interact with, share with your partners and colleagues and most of all allow the information to literally pour into your eyes and mind.