Tantalizing as the promise of big data is, an undue focus on it may cause companies to neglect something even more important—the proper management of all their strategic knowledge assets: core competencies, areas of expertise, intellectual property, and deep pools of talent. We contend that in the absence of a clear understanding of the knowledge drivers of an organization’s success, the real value of big data will never materialize.

This continues to be a theme I am seeing with "big data" and I wrote about here. This applies to "regular ole" data also, the key is to apply the knowledge and insight of the operation with the data to create actionable strategies and tactics. Data analytics, big and small, is a combination of Art and Science.

This is a fascinating paper and one that I would recommend reading. It attempts to identify company knowledge to find strengths and opportunities within that base. It also attempts to spread that knowledge and expertise throughout the company to different divisions, which would assist on where to use that knowledge for the most profitable or strategic initiatives. Very high level and difficult work, but very valuable.