私募股权在大数据革命第二阶段大有可为

    生命中必然发生之事又多了一样。除去死亡和交税，这份清单上现在又增加了信息过载。每天产生的数据量呈爆炸式增长，压得人类和大小企业喘不过气来。不过这给私募股权公司等各类投资者创造了机会：将过载的信息转化为智能数据，帮助企业高层做出决策。

    它对于私募股权投资者而言意味着两件事：其一，为了帮助广大企业在这场信息革命中抓住机遇，一些初创公司正在开发应用程序，建设基础设施，提供相关服务，私募股权投资人应该投资给它们中的翘楚。其二，确保我们的投资组合公司有效利用以上提及的能力，实现自身的商业成功。

    大数据时代的巨大机遇已经开启：据国际数据公司（IDC）预计，大数据的价值将会从2010年的32亿美元增至2015年的169亿美元。高德纳公司（Gartner）的全球研究总管彼得·桑德加特称，到2015年，全球将有440万个岗位服务于大数据工作，其中190万个在美国。他还预测这会导致倍数效应——大数据领域每产生一个IT岗位，将由此增加三个非IT工作岗位。

    这个全新的时代到底有多新？有人说我们仍然处在大数据革命的初级阶段，目前只是通过早期的风险投资公司收购年轻的创业公司参与其中。实际情况并非如此。我们所目睹的是企业智能的革命，企业持续改善着数据战略。由于能够更有效地对顾客数据、市场数据和产品数据加以利用，优胜者正在从各个行业脱颖而出。

    今天的大数据并不等同于“智能数据”。直到不久前，商业智能指的一直都是让IT部门能够存储及管理信息，以备企业高管人员定期查阅。这种智能处在决策过程的边缘。即便如此，大多数企业依然广泛地采用这些工具，这些公司的投资者也因此从中获利颇丰。IBM收购了康格诺（Cognos），甲骨文（Oracle）收购了Hyperion，一批又一批初创企业因为推出创新技术而成为业界领袖，取代前辈公司站上历史的潮头。

    大数据投资的第二步在于采取行动。这一次，“智能”已不仅仅意味着数据报告。它将存在于机构的核心、而不是边缘，从单纯地提供历史参考转变为提供预测信息，让管理人员能够做出更加明智的决定。为了匹配这些新的能力，企业开始建设新一层面的基础设施、应用和服务。没有一个行业能够置身这股潮流之外。投资者想要参与大数据革命可以有多种选择。由于那些提供基础设施的创业公司和早期风险投资公司中将产生新的明星企业，因此我们认为，巨大的成功将出现在那些帮助企业用户实现大数据能力、提供智能应用和服务，或者在垂直行业内找到全新商业模式的公司中间。

    The list of life's certainties has gotten longer. Along with death and taxes we can now include information overload. The amount of data generated on a daily basis has exploded, overwhelming people and organizations alike. This creates an opportunity for many types of investors, including private equity firms, to turn information overload into smart data that can drive decision-making at the highest levels of enterprise.

    For private equity investors this means two things: Investing in the emerging leaders who are building the apps, infrastructure and services that businesses need in order to capitalize on the data revolution, and ensuring that our portfolio companies are effectively using these capabilities to drive the success of their businesses.

    Welcome to the Big Data opportunity:  Research firm IDC expects Big Data to grow from $3.2 billion in 2010 to $16.9 billion in 2015. Peter Sondergaard, Gartner's global head of research, says that by 2015 we'll see 4.4 million jobs devoted to the global support of Big Data, with 1.9 million based in the U.S. He also predicts a jobs multiplier effect – each IT job created by Big Data will generate three more positions outside of IT.

    How new is this era, exactly? Some say that we are still in the nascent stages of the Big Data revolution, and the way to participate is via early-stage venture capital firms taking stakes in young startups. This is actually not the case. What we are witnessing is the evolution of enterprise intelligence, with companies continuing to refine their data strategies and sector winners beating their competitors by using their customer, market and product data more effectively.

    Until now, Big Data was not synonymous with "smart data." Business intelligence until recently has meant enabling IT departments to warehouse and organize information that might be reviewed periodically by senior managers.  The intelligence was on the periphery of the decision-making process. Still, most enterprises adopted these tools very broadly and investors in these companies profited. IBM acquired Cognos.  Oracle acquired Hyperion.  And innovation moved on to the next set of emerging leaders.

    The second act of Big Data is about action. This time intelligence will go beyond reporting. It will live at the heart of the organization, not at the edges. It will involve moving from historical insight to predictive information, enabling managers to make smarter decisions. To match these new capabilities, enterprises are building a new layer of infrastructure, applications and services.  No industry will remain untouched.  Investors have many options for participating in Big Data. While winners will be found among the startups and early stage venture capital firms providing the infrastructure layer, we believe that big successes will come from enabling the business users, providing intelligence applications and services or designing entirely new business models within verticals.