This blog post originally appeared on Informatica’s blog on the 28th of August, 2018. It has been revised.

National Instruments is a global leader in test, measurement and control systems. With more than 35,000 customers worldwide, National Instruments empower scientists and engineers in diverse industries such as Electronics, Aerospace, Defense, Energy, Automotive, Wireless, Heavy Equipment, Industrial Machinery, Academic and Research, Semiconductor and RF/Mobile, generating a considerable amount of data.

Each of these industries have unique needs, which National Instruments serves in individualised ways. The National Instruments IT team is charged with future proofing the business’ IT infrastructure and providing guidance to the individual business units. They’ve also developed a robust data management strategy across the enterprise.

If like me you follow Data Warehousing and Big Data developments you will have noticed some interesting research and commentary around the Hadoop and Big Data ecosystems of late. A couple of recent articles on Hadoop adoption by Gartner and Data Silos continue the trend. It seems that adoption has been much slower than anticipated by the industry, the key reasons being a shortage of skilled resource, the risk of creating yet more siloed data and crossing the chasm from science project to enterprise solution. Sound familiar?

More devices are collecting more data about more people than ever before in our history. Big data could be the best thing that ever to happened to your business – or the worst. Certainly it represents some big opportunities, but only if you have clear goals about what you’re looking to achieve.

We’re a proud sporting nation that continuously punches above our weight. My father has always told me that “rugby is in our DNA” which I’m sure rings true for many rugby players and supporters across New Zealand, including myself. Take the All Blacks for example: current world champions who have held the no.1 ranking longer than all other teams combined, and who on average put 25 points on the opposition.