Industry experts discuss advantages and risks of shifting data analytics to the cloud

Thought leaders in both cloud computing and big data examine the factors driving increasing numbers of companies to move their enterprises to the cloud, explore the synergy between the cloud and notebooks, and debate whether the cloud is able to provide the level of information security needed by enterprises in an insightful Expert Panel Discussion published in Big Data.

In the article entitled "Big Data and the Cloud—Data Analytics, Security, and Notebooks," Moderator Edmund Wilder-James, Silicon Valley Data Science (Mountain View, CA), leads an outstanding panel of industry experts comprised of the following participants: Caroline McCrory, Microsoft (Redmond, WA), Travis Oliphant, Continuum Analytics (Austin, TX), and David Tishgart, Cloudera (Austin, TX). Their discussion covers the opportunities and advantages companies have to gain by moving their data analytics activities to the cloud, including the potential for cost savings, improved management of analytics workloads, and more efficient use of companies' IT resources.

"Every business and IT executive should read this article," says Big Data Editor-in-Chief Vasant Dhar, Professor at the Stern School of Business and the Center for Data Science at New York University. "The discussion clarifies when and why analytics in the cloud make sense and the issues businesses are encountering as they deal with or take advantage of big data. The cloud enables new kinds of possibilities, including inexpensive experimentation that allows businesses to configure 'best fit' solutions that satisfy their needs."