Introduction to Big Data in Small Business

This is a book about big data in small businesses. How do small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with limited resources, thrive in a context abundant with data? To address this central question from multiple viewpoints, we introduce a collection of experiences, insights, and guidelines from a variety of researchers, each of whom provides a piece to solve this puzzle. Today, data often are described as “big,” and they also are increasing in size with each day that passes. Accordingly, the promise of success linked to using these data is presumed to be similarly big, and expectations are still rising. Yet for many firms, especially SMEs, each of the steps they take is quite small. Even if firms can only take small steps, designing a pathway that comprises many, well-placed small steps can create movement and progression. Thus, there is no contradiction between small steps and big data success. It “merely” requires patience, cadence, and an ability to maintain a balance. In our ongoing research on data commercialization, we often encounter firms that profess to feeling overwhelmed by the amount of data available and the expectations set, both by themselves and partners in their business ecosystem. The feeling of being overwhelmed is intensified by the lack of resources, which is especially pressing for SMEs. Despite these challenges, we also have often encountered intriguing business development initiatives by SMEs that circumvented the obstacles. These experiences triggered our interest in crafting a book that would be full of ideas to inspire big data-driven success by SMEs that make smaller investments. We are not talking about million-dollar bets and unicorns; rather, our focus is on solid work and experiments that guide the data utilization journey for SMEs. It is not that we are against million-dollar projects and moon-is-the-limit ambitions, but there must be a place for “ordinary” data-driven journeys that firms of any size can take. Before we introduce the chapters of the book, we thus present some general issues and challenges for SMEs seeking to leverage big data today.