Overcoming Legacy Processes to Achieve Big Data Success

For large companies saddled with complex legacy environments that were developed over many decades, finding the opportunity for disruption can be a daunting challenge.

Unlike new economy firms, which have had the benefit of being able to build their businesses and infrastructure from scratch in a “green-field” environment, most large corporations are saddled with disparate and fragmented operational and analytical environments and processes, characterized by business and data silos that limit the ability to operate with agility, flexibility, and insight across customers and lines of business.

While institutional reputation, customer reach, and operational scale provide many advantages to large corporations, these larger firms can sometimes be challenged when it comes to innovation and responsiveness. Yet it’s still these large corporations that continue to be the bulwark of the economy, accounting for the bulk of business and consumer transactional activity. Now, Big Data approaches that were developed by the new economy firms, which enabled the flexibility and rapid growth of these firms, are being adopted by mainstream corporations to overcome legacy challenges and introduce greater corporate agility and speed.

A 2014 survey conducted by NewVantage Partners of 125 senior corporate executives, representing 59 Fortune 1000 companies, showed that more than two-thirds of executives reported that their organization had a Big Data initiative in production. These same executives reported that investments in Big Data are projected to grow dramatically in the coming years — with 75% of executives reporting investments greater than $10 million, and 28% reporting investments exceeding $50 million by 2017.

For these corporate giants, operational process optimization can have a huge business impact.

One such firm that’s benefiting from new Big Data approaches is the financial services giant American Express (AMEX), which is harnessing the power of its data to innovate and to streamline complex operational processes. AMEX has opened its own new technology hub in Palo Alto, led by former Google and PayPal executive Nik Sathe. The new tech center “will focus on innovations in Big Data, cloud computing, and mobile infrastructure,” according to AMEX CIO Marc Gordon.