LITMIR.BIZ

      Figure 2: Growth of Data Volume by the Year 2020[6]

      Big Data is considered a new aspect of economy, which will take over a central part of the modern organizational theories (OT). Taylor, Weber or Fayol represent the classical approach of organizational theories where emphasis is on bureaucracy and administration. In the neoclassical approaches individual and group behaviors play a central role. The modern theories focus on organizations as systems which continuously adapt to the environmental changes. One of these modern theories is the social technical approach according to which an organization consists of people, technical systems and the environment. Big Data is an environmental change an organization has to adapt to.

      McKinsey considers Big Data a new type of corporate asset.

      McKinsey considers Big Data a new type of corporate asset, which will cut across all business units. It will function like a powerful brand does and thus represent a key basis for competition.^[7] According to a 2012 IBM study, 1,700 marketing experts agreed that Big Data will significantly impact their work environment.^[8] It is assumed that companies using Big Data will be able to increase their profit margins by up to 60%.^[9] The impact on the hotel industry is considered even higher due to the expanding share of indirect bookings and the linked commission payments.

      The possibility to increase profit margins should help to draw the attention of the senior management to this topic. Further benefits are the enhancement of decision-making processes as well as the qualitative improveent of products and services. The prerequisite is, however, the ability to utilize Big Data.

      1.2. From Data to Knowledge or from Big Data to Big Insight

      Big Data is characterized by:

      These three elements indicate the complexity of the topic but two essential aspects are missing in most Big Data definitions, which is veracity, and value.

      Cleaning and linking of data are often ignored or underestimated.

      The complexity of cleaning and linking the growing amount of data, which comes from different sources, is often ignored or underestimated. Although the quality of the collected data is one of the key factors of success, the complexity of data management in general is highly underestimated[11].[12] Adriaans, Zantinge state that “without the right data there is little gold to be mined; here again, we must apply the rule ‘garbage in, garbage out”.[13]

      According to a 2010 study only 40% of SAP users trust the data they have in their system, 47% have an average trust level, and 7% have no trust at all.[14] These numbers can be applied to the hotel industry.