Bigger and faster plans require better data quality measures, too

Many companies are looking to big data because they want to be able to make better decisions, at an accelerating rate. By gathering a larger amount of information from a multitude of sources and analyzing it faster than ever before, businesses hope to see unexpected patterns that they may not have noticed otherwise. When data volumes keep getting larger and processing faster, companies must make sure data quality remains a constant. 

Data is getting bigger, according to a recent report from InformationWeek. After polling more than 300 business-technology decision-markers, the source found that 30 percent are increasing the size of their databases to accommodate larger volumes of information. As of 2012, an estimated 42 percent of firms have at least 100 terabytes of data that are being actively managed. 

At the same time, they are looking for faster results, according to the Pervasive Big Data Blog. Companies are now using advanced analytics to volley answers back in real-time. 

"We are not a patient society. The cutthroat world of business has become all about who can get the right answer faster," wrote Paige Roberts in a separate post for the site. Roberts explained that this is the trigger that's driving mass adoption of big data, along with a prevailing belief that companies will now lose out on sales if they are only slightly slower than competitors.