IBM have released an Infographic on the “Four V’s of Big Data” which covers:

• Volume – Scale of Data
• Variety – Different forms of Data
• Velocity – Analysis of Streaming Data
• Veracity – Uncertainty of Data

There should be another V for “Verification” which covers the questions you ask of the data in order to obtain the results. A check should also be made on the data to look at the inference of the results as different views or questions asked in a slightly different way could produce completely different outcomes in the data.

Having the right data is important and ensuring the data gathered and collected is relevant to the business questions you are asking. Two stats in the infographic stick out for me on this:

• $3.1 Trillion a year on poor data quality
• 40 Zetabytes of data created by 2020

Perhaps with the right Verification there may not be so much uncertainty (Veracity) and a huge saving to businesses reducing a high loss in money, time and incorrect data.