Book Review: Big Data

​Wiley; wiley.com; 224 pages; $49.95

Gathering data is easy, and current technology enables data to get bigger, more cumbersome, and unintelligible. Actionable Intelligence: A Guide to Delivering Business Results with Big Data Fast provides a general outline of intelligence and data collection, explaining how to transform data into the basis for making intelligent business decisions. 

The author provides detailed insight into acquiring actionable data in four steps: identify and gather; document the acquisition and its sources; validate; and implement changes in people, processes, and systems to improve data quality. Author Keith Carter describes the data principle: “People don’t trust data, people trust other people.” This is important in regard to the four steps as well as any data gathering project.

The book employs examples to describe all processes from simple to complex issues. Because data collection and analysis can be overwhelming, it is critical to make the massive amounts of data into intelligent and useful information that can be used to make intelligent decisions.

Although it is not an easy read, this book is recommended to those who possess some knowledge and experience with data mining and analysis.

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Reviewer: Adrian A. Barnie, CPP, CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist), is a contract senior investigator with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a member of ASIS International.