eCommerce Journal

When it comes to building new cloud services, there is a large opportunity for new services built around Big Data.

So when you look at consulting firms that provide application development and integration services, are there opportunities for them to leverage Big Data in their service portfolio?

For enterprise consultancy, cloud platforms and tools such as enterprise integration framework and development software can be used to provide line-of-business, e-commerce and system integration services.  And the nice thing about Big Data is that it helps provide opportunities to build financially sustainable services.

While there is a large market for cloud computing and mobility solutions, one of the services that consultants are seeing traction with is through offering Big Data analytics, especially in the Healthcare and Automotive verticals.  The nice thing is that these engagements are usually lengthy and comprehensive, which is important for consulting firms who survive on stable, long-term projects to help raise cash flow and utilization rates to help lower overall cost of sales.

So what kind of tools can be used to help supplement these types of engagements?  Aside from the obvious choices like Hadoop, there are also tools such as HBase and Hive to get at the data and then other data visualization tools for analysis. The visualization part can be done by commercial tools such as MicroStrategy and Tableau, or open source tools such as those from Pentaho.

There is a huge emerging Big Data industry with actual growing revenue opportunities.  Right now we are still at a hype stage, but when it does get past it, there will be a significant need for Big Data consultancy firms.

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