Going by what we keep hearing about big data, professionals and evangelists of this technology make it feel simple as if businesses can just take off as soon as they implement it. However, the truth is actually the opposite. Big data may not show results as soon as you implement it. Rather, it demands patience since it may take some time and perseverance for the data to be collected and used in what the initial intention was. It takes time to separate the useful information from data, prioritize, visualize and extract insights needed to make business decisions.

On Monday morning, the tech world got shaken up when Salesforce announced they had acquired data visualization software, Tableau for a whopping $15.7 billion. “We are bringing together the world’s #1 CRM with the #1 analytics platform. Tableau helps people see and understand data, and Salesforce helps people engage and understand customers,” co-CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff said in a statement after the announcement. What started off as strictly a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform, it’s clear that Salesforce is looking to expand their influence to other industries such as data analysis – creating a product that has everything a company needs all in one software.

I recently wrote an article about Walmart’s new Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL) from a supply chain perspective. Walmart’s IRL, is a new AI powered store that uses technology and data to monitor every day tasks from re-stocking shelves, notifying employees when a new cash register needs to be opened; and insuring that there are always enough carts available for customers.

Glassdoor recently published their “Best Jobs in America” for 2019 and it was no surprise that data scientists topped the list for the fourth year in a row. Almost every industry utilizes data in some form to build a more efficient business model, and that trend does not seem to be slowing down.