Data flood

Despite the ending of the Mayan Calendar last month, we have survived into 2013. Back in ancient times Noah built a boat to survive a huge flood. A recent report on the Digital Universe in 2020 has left me wondering if we need a Noah for this digital age. Can mankind's end be to drown in data? Apparently the digital data supply reached 2.8 trillion gigabytes in 2012 meaning that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years. The digital universe is set to double every two years, by 2020 there will be  5200 gigabytes of data for everyone living on the planet. The report notes that less that 1% of data is currently used for any analysis and that only half the data that needs protection has adequate protection in place. We are clearly entering the age of 'Big Data' but as IBM have noted, 1 in 3 business leaders do not trust the information they use to make big decisions. 

As we start 2013 let us remember that data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding and understanding is not wisdom.