Big data has reached big buzzword status these days but most enterprises are unsure of its implications and are at a loss for determining the right strategy for their business. The number of technologies and solutions that have emerged to address Big Data complexities has also been staggering.
Along with the challenges, Big Data presents great opportunities too. Companies who make smart use of Big Data technologies end up developing products that outpace competitors while significantly reducing costs.
The road to a successful Big Data strategy is not always clear. Here are a few considerations as you evaluate different solutions:
- ** Online vs. Offline Big Data. ** Online data is dynamic and processed in real-time by applications through an operational data store like MongoDB. Offline data is more retrospective, and is processed and analyzed in batch by applications such as Hadoop. For a complete Big Data solution, you’ll likely need a combination of these two technologies.
- ** Software Licensing Models. ** Deliberate among three types of licenses with Big Data technologies: open source, proprietary, and cloud service. Choose the one that best aligns with your business requirements.
- ** Community. ** A larger technology community means you will have more resources to support you as you undertake development of your Big Data solution.
- ** Developer Appeal. ** Acquiring developer talent is a fiercely competitive endeavor these days. Choose solutions that developers love to develop with by using the latest technologies.
- ** Agility. ** Being able to develop solutions quickly is crucial. Technologies that are easier to use, more flexible to adapt to changing requirements, and open source will get you faster to market than traditional, proprietary solutions.
- ** General Purpose vs. Niche Solutions. ** Being able to standardize on a technology will help your organization be more resource efficient. So consider using a technology that can be applied to many different types of use cases as opposed to one that serves only a particular niche case. When you take these elements into consideration, it’s not surprising that MongoDB has emerged as the leading Big Data database technology in recent years. With over 40 million downloads of its open source software and the fastest growing developer community, MongoDB is helping many successful companies build amazing Big Data applications.
Download our white paper to delve deeper into each of these Big Data considerations and find out more about how MongoDB can help.