We decided to write a book about big data and its impact on businesses, after many years working in and around companies and with executives who were seeing, increasingly, how data could change the courses of their careers and the trajectories of the businesses they worked for. We also saw incredible big data stories starting to hit the public's consciousness. There was Moneyball (W.W. Norton, 2003), the book by Michael Lewis about how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane gained a huge advantage through big data. More recently, there was The Signal and the Noise (Penguin, 2012), Nate Silver's book exploring why so many predictions fail because of a lack of big data—or because of a misinterpretation of it.

Despite its obvious power, the understanding and use of big data have remained surprisingly sporadic in the business world. We see three types of people:

1. The Pioneers, who are embracing the troves of data that they have access to and who are truly transforming the way businesses are run and how customer communication is done.
2. The Frozen, who either don't know how to get started or don't seem to want to uncover the truths that data might deliver.
3. The Denialists, who don't believe that big data has any value to deliver and whose businesses are dead or dying.

The first group is far outnumbered by the latter two.

We realized that those people who are stuck can learn a great deal from the Pioneers who have come before them. These Pioneers are not only breaking new ground but executing at a high level, and all the while they are solving technological, organizational, and cultural issues to capture and use data to deliver outsized returns on investment. These Pioneers are delivering great experiences for their prospects and clients. They are giving rise to greater truth and better decisions by making more data available in boardrooms. And they are helping to create companies that truly understand what their customer needs are now and will be in the future.

The people and stories we highlight in this book are designed to bring you insight into the first waves of a sea change in how business is and will be done. Not only have they already brought huge upside into their organizations, but they are also positioning their companies to be long-term leaders in a highly competitive world.

We hope you find the journey as interesting as we do and come away with some insights on why and how big data is changing and should change the way business functions—whether within tiny start-ups or within the largest enterprises in the world. Our thesis starts with a simple premise: the companies that most effectively use big data to gain insight into their customers and act on that data will win. Be data-driven and customer focused, and you will reap the benefits.

We aim to show you how it's being done, and how you can get started. But first, let's go back to when the earth was still thought to be flat.