Big data is one of the signature issues of our time—and also one of the more poorly understood.
Discussions of the topic often are clouded by what I call the “two dogmas of big data.” The first is that “bigger is better.” This is the idea that aspects of data volume, variety and velocity are what make big data valuable. But measures of raw data size are at best an imperfect proxy for amount of relevant, usable information the data can offer. Executive SummaryDigital breadcrumbs that people leave behind from a range of activities can be mashed up and used to make powerful inferences about future behaviors, financial position and insurance risk, writes Deloitte Consulting’s Chief Data Scientist James Guszcza, who also suggests that insurers will need to be at once innovative and socially responsible to win the tug-of-war over the use of behavioral data.