Big data hype reminds me of the “He’s Large” song from Popeye.
The recurrent theme is that whatever his other qualities, Bluto is large.
I mention that because Anthony Smith illustrates in When it Comes to Data, Small is the New Big, big data is great, but it never tells the whole story.
The whole story includes how and why customers buy and use your product. Trivial things like that.
Don’t use big data like the NSA uses phone data:
There is no other way we know of to connect the dots NSA & Connecting the Dots
Big data can show a return on your investment but it will only show you some of the facts that are available.
Don’t allow a fixation on “big data” blind you to the value of small data, which isn’t available to big data approaches and tools.
PS: The NSA uses phone data as churn for the sake their budget. Churn of big data doesn’t add to your bottom line.