Asha Saxena explores big data and how companies can use it to their benefit with Dun & Bradstreet’s Senior Vice President and Chief Data Scientist, Dr. Anthony Scriffignano.

In this episode, we uncover the fears that so many people and companies share with regard to big data. In our culture, we value privacy, and people feel as though with big data, nothing is sacred anymore, nothing is private anymore. Dr. Anthony Scriffignano explores this notion and provides insight into how big data is not scary but useful if curated to be used strategically.

Big data is here to stay. Businesses are using it, and if you don’t start using it in a meaningful way, you could be left behind.

What you will learn about in this episode:

• What it means to organize big data so that it is highly dynamic data, which can provide the clearest, fullest view of any given company on earth
• An understanding that there are many different perspectives and different interpretations of artificial intelligence and that it is not easily lumped under one definition
• What it means to be human versus what it means to be a robot and how far we have come in today’s society and yet still have so far to go
• What it means to not be scared of science, why that’s important, and why — though you should not fear it — you should be cautious of it
• A discussion on reason and how humans understand the “why” of what they do but robots or artificial intelligence does not understand the “why” component, which is a very important component of learning and growing intellectually
• A discussion of our conscious selves and how this process is present and absent in artificial intelligence
• The meaning of privacy and regulation, big data’s role in these things, and how it is changing the world we know
• Why some of what we fear — that our privacy or everything we do is discoverable — is relevant and reasonable but it does not mean that it is a bad thing because data can change the way we do things for the better
• Why the cost of doing nothing is not something without a cost any more (and why doing nothing can actually turn into something costly)
• Why action matters today and why you must act on the data you have to perform better and be better
• Overall, how technologies continue to advance and evolve, how the evolution is changing the world, and how we can use it for positive purposes

Ways to contact Dr. Anthony Scriffignano:

• Twitter: @Scriffignano1
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-scriffignano-ph-d-9165845