People are making a big deal about big data—and it is a big deal.
It has the power to guide us in addressing some of our nation’s most pressing needs, from protecting against fraud at the checkout counter to helping families secure affordable loans that help them accomplish their dreams. And like any powerful tool, it must be deployed wisely; in the wrong hands, as Hollywood saw recently, data can be hacked.
But that doesn’t mean abandoning big data is the solution, especially with so many weighty challenges burdening our nation. There’s a smart way to use data right, and we can “unleash untold opportunities” if we use technology to do it well, as President Obama alluded to in this year’s State of the Union address.
With big data, technology is now able to process unfathomable, and until recently largely unmanageable, volumes of information. And from that processing, we can identify actionable insights that can illuminate new solutions to old problems.
Read the full article on TheHill.com