This year begins the shift of big data away from a topic unto itself, and toward standard practices, said Nick Heudecker, research director at Gartner. The topics that formerly defined big data, such as massive data volumes, disparate data sources and new technologies are becoming familiar as big data solutions become mainstream. For example, among companies that have invested in big data technology, 70 percent are analyzing or planning to analyze location data, and 64 percent are analyzing ...