Navy sees value in advanced analytics tools

Published on 01/06/2012

Analytics tools can do more than boost the bottom line for companies - government agencies and armed forces are calling on big data analytics to directly aid operations in the field. The U.S. Navy recently released a call for new analytics applications that reveals both the exciting possibilities of big and unstructured information and the depth of the government's conviction that big data is the way forward, turning unstructured intelligence into action.

Advanced Possibilities

The proposal from the Navy revealed how far analytics tools have come. Not limiting itself to structured data, the program is based on taking information from huge amounts of intelligence in many different formats and forming a composite picture of that information. The goal is to find answers in context. This is one of the primary differences between modern, big data versions of analytics processes and the more structured ones that came before. Now, algorithms can find vital information in a constant stream of incoming information, gathering different insights as the situation dictates.

The Navy hopes to use its situationally aware big data models to detect gaps in intelligence. Ideally, the new application will be able to run on a set of figures and give insight into what forces do not know, guiding their future information gathering efforts.

Big data projects allow information both structured and unstructured to flow together and provide insight. The Navy has a wide variety of information gathering resources, and some of the information will be text, audio or video. Synthesizing the information into a coherent whole will be vital.

The capabilities that can help a military body can also assist a business employing analytics. The ability to change reporting based on the situation, to give insight into deficiencies into the data pool and taking a variety of sources together can all help companies in their efforts to improve business decisions and excel in their industry, whatever that industry might be.

Government support

The U.S. government as a whole has placed a great deal of faith in big data. Government Computer News recently reported that the TechAmerica Foundation has selected a new 22-member panel of industry sources to oversee the future of government big data. The organization sees information as the driving force behind future innovation in both industry and government, and aims to make sure that development goes on.