大数据不是降温了，而是已融入主流

几年前，人们还在竭力消化大数据的概念，如今这个概念不再火热了。大数据已经融入主流科技领域，可以被视为传统数据分析的外延。

以上观点来自四大国际会计事务所之一——德勤最新发布的数据分析趋势报告。

协助撰写报告的德勤独立高级顾问、美国巴布森学院教授汤姆•达文波特称：“大数据和传统数据分析正在融合，越来越难以将两者区分开来。”

“大数据”一词通常指分析海量信息，从而帮助企业更好地做决策，以及提升公司内部计算机系统性能。另外，海量信息未必要存在一处，比如甲骨文公司的数据库，可以分布在多个数据库和系统之中。

就在几年前，企业高管还在努力理解大数据的定义，也很难找到掌握这类巨量数据分析技术的专才。

而今，高等学府已经提供高级数据分析专业的硕士学位，企业正在开发自有项目，培训数据科学方面的人才。德勤报告举例说，思科公司就内部推出了数据科学的培训项目，200多员工已结业。

由于媒体报道、顾问服务，还有分析师都在大谈特谈“大数据”。现在人们已经大致明白大数据的概念，也了解企业可以怎样运用这种技术。

德勤报告提到，2010年，“大数据”还是谷歌搜索引擎的热搜词，此后热度持续下滑。该报告解释说，这是因为目前大众已经了解这一概念，不再需要查询大数据是什么意思了。

“坦白说，我觉得人们了解大数据的意愿并不十分强烈，更愿意实际运用。”达文波特如是说。

时下最新的热词是认知计算（Cognitive Computing），一般指模拟人类思考逻辑的计算机系统，运用的是机器学习算法等人工智能技术。认知计算系统可以识别语音、分辨图像中的物体，甚至能在无人驾驶汽车中学习适应危险的路况环境。

假如企业能利用先进的数据分析技术解决传统的商业问题，比如用IBM 旗下人工智能程序Watson提高农场用水效率，认知计算最终也可能得到普及，成为传统数据分析范畴的技术。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

校对：夏林

Big data is no longer the hot buzzword it was a few years ago that people strained their brains to understand. It’s now entered the mainstream and can be viewed as an extension of traditional data crunching.

That’s one of the takeaways from a Deloitte report on trends in data analytics released on Wednesday.

“Big data and traditional analytics are merging,” said Tom Davenport, an independent senior advisor to Deloitte who helped write the report and who is also a Babson College professor. “It’s getting harder and harder to distinguish the two.”

The term “big data” generally refers to the idea of analyzing enormous volumes of information to make better business decisions and improve the performance of a company’s internal computer systems. Additionally, all that information doesn’t have to be stored in one place, like an Oracledatabase, for example. It can be scattered across multiple databases and systems.

It was just a few years ago that executives struggled to understand the term and had trouble finding employees who specialized in the types of technology used to crunch tons of information.

Now, however, universities offer specialized master’sdegrees for advanced data analytics and companies are creating their own in-house programs to train talent in data science. The Deloitte report cites networking giant Ciscoas an example of a company that created an internal data science training program that over 200 employees have gone through.

Because of media reports, consulting services, and analysts talking up “big data,” people now generally understand what big data means and how they can apply it to their own business.

The Deloitte report explains that Google searches for the term “big data” in 2010 were high, but they have since declined. Davenport explained that’s because people now grasp the term and no longer need to look up what it means.

“Frankly, I think there’s less of a desire to read about this stuff, and more of a desire to do it,” said Davenport.

Now, the new hot topic is cognitive computing, which generally refers to computer systems built to simulate human thinking and reasoning using artificial intelligence techniques like machine-learning algorithms. Cognitive computing systems can recognize speech, identify objects in pictures, and even learn to adapt to dangerous road conditions if embedded within a self-driving car, for example.

If companies are able to use these advanced data crunching techniques to solve traditional business problems, such as using IBM Watson to improve water use on farms, cognitive computing might eventually be lumped in with how people view traditional data analytics.