As far as IT services firm Virtusa is concerned, it is all very well having mountains of Big Data, but where the success lies is using that data in the correct way at the right time to give your business the edge.

Scores of companies are now waking up to the reality that harnessing the power of Big Data is what will give them the competitive lead, and failing to do so will leave them as dinosaurs, as put by Frank Palermo, SVP at Virtusa.

Frank says: "Companies using Big Data need to have a closer look at which data sets can provide them with the advantage. What data sets could potentially help you better serve your customers?"

Christopher Stanley, senior director of Enterprise Information Management for Virtusa Europe, tells CBR: "It’s very important that companies using Big Data really understand what they’re trying to achieve with it.

"I think it’s something that technologists, historically, haven’t been focused on, is perhaps the real-world application of that technology. It’s great to have that technology, but we need to utilise people that can use it to its full potential.

"What is the value you’re looking to drive out of Big Data, what is the outcome, what is the information that’s going to drive that outcome, and then how can Big Data assist that process?

"Technology is great, but it’s the people and the processes that actually use it to deliver the outcome. The people like data scientists, when you use these people it’s when you can get ahead of the curve."

Virtusa say that the people involved, the process and the technology should remain a guiding principle – it’s all very well having all the horsepower in the world and collecting data from far-flung reaches, but if you don’t have people who know how to use it and processes for them to follow then projects are doomed to failure.

Right-time not real-time

"There’s no point catching something in real time if you as a business aren’t actually going to use it until the end of the day. Why invest in a real-time infrastructure when you don’t need it. Having said that, if you as business are looking to move to real-time, then I’ll say ask them why.

"Real-time is irrelevant to some people, it’s not about where it is, but about where its going to be. It’s right-time, not real-time."

Frank Palermo adds: "Extending data to the personalised experience is the real power of big data."

Virtusa further say that there is no point in Big Data for Big Data’s sake. To gain value from a Big Data project it needs to have a purpose and a measureable goals and should be considered in terms of what it can actually do for a business, rather than what they simply want it to do.

This advice must be working, for Virtusa at least, as this week the company reported revenue growth of 17% in its most recent quarter.

The company reported earnings of 28 cents per share for the quarter ending Sept 30, the second of its 2014 fiscal year. That was above 2012 earnings of 23 cents per share.

Year-over-year revenue at Virtusa grew from $80.5 million to $94.3 million, but that too fell short of predictions of $94.4 million.

"Our efforts to scale the business and leverage our global resources have enabled us to expand our operating profit margins while still investing for growth," said Ranjan Kalia, the company’s chief financial officer, in a statement.

Virtusa increased its earnings estimates to 32 to 36 cents per share in the next quarter and $1.25 to $1.33 per share for the company’s 2014 fiscal year, which ends in March.