Has Big data Impacted You?

Big Data or Big Buzzword?

It seems as if the topic of Big Data is getting a lot of buzz in the press today, with lots of articles and commentary regarding how it is going to change the world.  I see a lot of talk about this in the marketing world, in particular, where many seem to believe it is the next best thing to sliced bread.  Now I have some obvious reasons for wanting to see companies become more data oriented, if only because it will likely drive an increased demand for my services.  But I have seen few concrete examples of how Big Data has really made an impact on the operations, revenue, or prospects of a firm.  Now Large Data -- that might be a different story, but that's been around forever!

So, have you been impacted by Big Data, and if so how?  I'd like to hear your stories.  As for myself, I suspect that the most dramatic impact that I've seen is in the number of times that I've had to gently educate people that simply having great quantities of data does not eliminate the necessity of thinking about the data.  In fact, if anything the larger the scope of data, the more likely it is that great amounts of thought will be required.