InfoWorld’s article Businesses harbor big data desires, but lack know-how addresses many challenges companies face today with Big Data, but is short on solutions.

As the article points out, the unsolved problem of the past few years remains that “most companies struggle to define a strategy, determine how to get value from their data, and find the skills necessary to do so.” This is compounded by the increasing volume, velocity and variety of data. The continued growth of data creates confusion, and heightens the need for experts to extract value from large and disparate data sets. This is best summarized by the closing statement: “we don’t need more data — What we need is more people who can understand the data we already have.”

With all of these challenges, it would seem that most Big Data initiatives are doomed to failure, but it does not have to be that way.

Data Science as a Service businesses can meet the needs of companies that struggle to find the resources, skills, budget, or strategic clarity to tackle Big Data on their own. This can be especially valuable for the SMB, where money and resources are tighter. Working with the right partner can mean lower overhead and risk, and ultimately a shorter timeline to achieving results.

While most businesses continue to harbor Big Data desires, many still have a long way to go. To achieve their objectives, they would do well to investigate Data Science as a Service as an option to fill the gap.