"Big Data has big spending risks," says Jeff Muscarella, IT spend management consultant with NPI Financial. Muscarella warns that Big Data projects can easily ring up seven-figure price tags after you finish paying for the hardware, software and services, and sometimes the glowing business cases presented by vendors lose their luster when you look closely. "A lot of times, when you pull them apart, they're not as rosy as they seem," he says.
That's not to say that harnessing the power of Big Data is a mistake, Muscarella explains. But it does mean that organizations seeking to base their decisions on data need to start by gathering real data on how a Big Data project will benefit the business.
