The emerging phenomenon called big data is forcing numerous changes in businesses and other organizations. Many struggles just to manage the massive data sets and non-traditional data structures that are typical of big data. Others are managing big data by extending their data management skills and their portfolios of data management software. This empowers them to automate more business processes, operate closer to real time, and through analytics, learn valuable new facts about business operations, customers, partners, and so on.
The result is Big Data Management (BDM), an amalgam of old and new best practices, skills, teams, data types, and home-grown or vendor-built functionality. All of these are expanding and realigning so that businesses can fully leverage big data, not merely manage it. At the same time, big data must eventually find a permanent place in enterprise data management.