Big data came with big promises. And in the relatively few years since IT departments have been trying to tame the mass of information out there, and use it to gain insights and make predictions, big data has been delivering. But while it was once the domain of the IT department, other areas of business have started to sit up and take notice – with the result that big data is now everybody’s business.

Gartner predicts that by 2017, the CMO will be spending more on IT than the CIO. Forbes says CFOs need to look beyond their traditional areas of responsibility and understand more about the trends affecting business today – including big data and technological innovations. And HR is being affected as analytics solutions give recruitment a strategic boost.