Using the process of finding and refining oil as a guide, discover how to mine big data effectively to help your company succeed.

1. WHAT OIL
TEACHES US
ABOUT BIG DATA

2. Data offers a business
opportunity, assuming
that your organization can
tap into that resource and
put it to productive use.

3. In order to do that, you need to
identify quality sources of data and
know how to refine that data to meet
the specific needs of your company.
In that way, the process for finding
and refining oil can teach us a lot
about how to exploit the new natural
resource in enterprises: data.

4. Manufacturing oil is a multistage
process, involving a variety of
different tools and complex
considerations. Each step in the
process is critical to the next step.
Otherwise, the quality of the end
product will be diminished or,
worst case, unusable.

5. Here we look at the seven major
steps in manufacturing oil and
how they relate to exploiting data.

6. 1Exploration

7. Without finding oil sands or
another source of crude and
petroleum, the process can never
begin. Petroleum is most often
found in areas of porous rock. Once
petroleum has been located, it’s
important to do some test drilling
to ensure that more drilling will be
productive.
1 Exploration

8. Similarly, data can be anywhere in
the organization or available from
external sources (some in the
public domain and others from fee-
based services). Leaders in the Data
era will explore beyond the obvious
places, looking for new data assets
which can be utilized for
competitive advantage.
1 Exploration

9. DRILLING
2

10. 2 DrillinG
Drilling for oil requires a rotary
drill and insertion of a pipe.
Typically, petroleum will be
thousands of feet deep into the
rock, so a drill must be able to
penetrate deeply.

11. 2 DrillinG
Once data is located, the right tools
must be in place to access the data.
But, it’s more than just tools; it’s
the approach, the methodology,
and the techniques to ensure that
the effort will yield results.

12. 3Recovery

13. 3 rEcovEryrEcovEryrEcovEry
After drilling, pipes and valves are
installed into the rock to enable the
proper extraction of the crude oil.
These pipes are connected to a
recovery system which separates
the oil and gas.

14. 3 rEcovEryrEcovEryrEcovEry
Likewise, once data is located and
accessed, there must be a strategy
to recover and extract the data.
From that point, the data can be
moved to the right part of the
organization.

15. 4Distillation

16. 4 Distillation
Fractional distillation is the process
of removing gasoline from other
compounds in the crude oil. It’s the
process of heating crude oil, letting
it vaporize, and then condensing
the vapor prior to the refining
process.

17. 4 Distillation
Just like consuming tainted oil will
prevent an automobile from
running, consuming poor-quality
data can cripple an organization.
Before it can be refined, the data
must be distilled—detecting and
fixing errors and missing values—
to ensure that it can be used.

18. 5REFINING

19. 5 rEFininG
Fractional distillation is the process
of removing gasoline from other
compounds in the crude oil. It’s the
process of heating crude oil, letting
it vaporize, and then condensing
the vapor prior to the refining
process.

20. 5 rEFininG
Just like consuming tainted oil will
prevent an automobile from
running, consuming poor-quality
data can cripple an organization.
Before it can be refined, the data
must be distilled—detecting and
fixing errors and missing values—
to ensure that it can be used.

21. 6ADDITIVES

22. 6 aDDitivEsaDDitivEsaDDitivEs
Chemicals are added to oil to
ensure performance of the finished
product. This will help extend the
life of gas engines and ensure
optimal operation.

23. 6 aDDitivEsaDDitivEsaDDitivEs
Data can be enriched too, either
with third-party data or simply
through human-aided curation.
This enhances the value of the asset.

24. 7TRANSPORTING

25. 7 transportinG
The last step in the oil
manufacturing process is about
ensuring that the finished product
is delivered to a location where it
can be consumed.

26. 7 transportinG
Data must also be in the right place
at the right time in order to impact
an organization. This puts a
premium on the transportation and
application of data across an
organization.

27. Organizations that have the
ability to tap into data as their
primary natural resource will
drive competitive advantage
versus their peer group. That is
the data opportunity. Leading
organizations will exploit that
opportunity by drawing parallels
from the oil refining steps.

28. For more on
exploiting big data,
check out
Big Data
Revolution
Rob Thomas & Patrick McSharry