5.2. Big Data

Data is everywhere, and it is being generated every second of every day. It is estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally by 2025, which is equivalent to 212,765,957 DVDs per day (Desjardins, 2019).

There is even “data about data,” which is called metadata. Growth in the amount and variety of digital data, as well as the speed at which it is generated, has led to the creation of the term big data. Big data refers to large data sets that conventional data processing technologies do not have sufficient power to analyze. Storage of all this data is also challenging. Understanding and developing the best tools and techniques to manage and analyze these large data sets are a problem that governments and businesses alike are trying to solve. We will explore big data and business intelligence more in Chapter 12 and begin our discussion here with databases.