There is no doubt that Big Data holds infinite promise for a range of industries. Better visibility into data across various sources enables everything from insight into saving electricity to agricultural yield to placement of ads on Google. But when it comes to deriving value from data, no industry has been doing it as long or with as much rigor as clinical researchers.
\nUnlike other markets that are delving into Big Data for the first time and don\u2019t know where to begin, drug and device developers have spent years refining complex processes for asking very specific questions with clear purposes and goals. Whether using data for designing an effective and safe treatment for cholesterol, or collecting and mining data to understand proper dosage of cancer drugs, life sciences has had to dot every \u201ci\u201d and cross every \u201ct\u201d in order to keep people safe and for new therapies to pass muster with the FDA. Other industries are now marveling at a new ability to uncover information about efficiencies and cost savings, but \u2013 with less than rigorous processes in place \u2013 they are often shooting in the dark or only scratching the surface of what Big Data offers.<\/p>\n