On big data, small things and events that matter

In a recent post in the Harvard Business Review Blog entitled: "Big Data Doesn't Work if You Ignore the Small Things that Matter" ,  Robert Plant argues that in some cases organization invest a lot in "big data" projects trying to get insights around their strategy, while failing to notice the small things, like customers leaving due to bad service.   Indeed big data and analytics are now fashionable and somewhat over-hyped.  There is also some belief, fueled by the buzz that it solves all the problems of the universe, as argued by Sethu Raman in his DEBS'12 keynote address.   Events are playing both in the big data game, but also in the small data game, trying to observe a current happening, such as time-out on service, long queues etc..., when it relates to service, and other phenomena in other domains.  Sometimes the small things are the most critical.

I'll write more about big data and statistical reasoning in a subsequent post.