Technical Details ... or is it Marketing Speak?
One of the most frustrating experiences these days is seeking out useful information from the sea of 'free content' available on the web.
Find a level 200 or 300 'presentation', spend time with it ... only to discover much of it is parroting the same marketing lines the manufacturer/vendor has already released. This is especially true of 'technical materials' provided by the the technology creator.
I don't know about you, but when I am looking for information about the feasibility of deploying a new solution ... marketing materials are just about the last thing I need to spend time with. It's become even worse these days with 'PR driven' content. It's now very common to see PR speak being spewn within technical forums. Anything that can be done to distract people from what they are seeking ... the actual technical details of a product, technology or situation that affects them.
You won't find that approach on this blog! We're going to give you the technical nuts and bolts as well as our experience and opinions from the field. You can get the marketing speak elsewhere. Here you will get solid information to guide you on whether or not you should even be looking at a specific solution. Suitability to task? How often do vendors speak about that regarding their products?
For example, you are interested in learning about big data. You spend hours/days/weeks on your research. Finally, you find a study that appears to have some science behind it - that could have saved you all that time. The conclusion is 'most big data is not usable for analysis'. Why would that be the case you wonder? Everything you are pummeled with daily says you MUST be gathering all the data you can, and tapping into these 'invaluable' big data sets. The survival of your company depends upon it because your competitors are already doing so. Hurry up! Buy this latest data set and our new tool. Look at all of the cool visuals it makes so easy to create ...
Except, someone along the way either forgot about or chose to disregard the fundamentals of good data. That is, an analysis of the source of the data. You know ... how it was collected, how it was verified, etc. Can the provider of the big data sets even tell you where they acquired the data, except in general terms? Or how it was collected? Or what logic was used when updating it? Is there an audit trail? That seems fairly unlikely.
One 'executive' from a big data company mentioned how they should not be expected to track the source of their data - which they sell - because it 'would be too hard'. For real? If they are not already tracking that how do they know the data is even valuable? Or the correct version? But they could expound upon the value of the data to your firm. Right ... the marketing speak we all know and really don't love too much. Forget the (required!) technical details and promote the marketing speak.
A very simple example is the mail that is delivered to your company by the USPS. Ever get letters addressed to a non-existent employee? Did you ever figure out how that data was created? How someone associated your business address with someone you never met? Big data in action ... There are examples of this type of bad data everywhere. Yet the industry continues to focus almost exclusively on the next way to consume it. Along with the requisite marketing speak to distract from the technical details.
At Saber DBA we won't do that to you. We'll discuss a product from a market positioning perspective initially but then focus exclusively on the technical aspects that affect your business. Otherwise, how can you make an informed decision? Experience has shown that in the end, it is the technical details and nuances of the data, technology and licensing that matter the most to your successful use of a given solution.
Thanks for reading!
Saber DBA