Big data is a fast-growing technology that has the scope to mine huge amount of data to be used in various analytic applications. With large amount of data streaming in from a myriad of sources: social media, online transactions and ubiquity of smart devices, Big Data is practically garnering attention across all stakeholders from academics, banking, government, heath care, manufacturing and retail. Big Data refers to an enormous amount of data generated from disparate sources along with data analytic techniques to examine this voluminous data for predictive trends and patterns, to exploit new growth opportunities, to gain insight, to make informed decisions and optimize processes. Data-driven decision making is the essence of business establishments. The explosive growth of data is steering the business units to tap the potential of Big Data to achieve fueling growth and to achieve a cutting edge over their competitors. The overwhelming generation of data brings with it, its share of concerns. This paper discusses the concept of Big Data, its characteristics, the tools and techniques deployed by organizations to harness the power of Big Data and the daunting issues that hinder the adoption of Business Intelligence in Big Data strategies in organizations.
