The Final Word by Jim Thompson


One quarter down, three to go this year.
 
We continue to be in a worldwide economy of economic and political turmoil. Savvy managers are going to accept current conditions not as temporary or transit but the new normal.
 
Why do I say this?
 
Information has become so fast and ubiquitous that humankind no longer has time to absorb it. I saw something recently that said from the beginning of recorded history until about 2005, 5 exabytes of data had been created (1 exabyte equals 1 billion billion bytes). From 2005 to 2009, the global data volume has been cited as growing to 800 exabytes. In 2004, the global internet traffic passed 1 exabyte per month. As of March 2010, global internet traffic passed 21 exabytes per month. Cisco estimates that global internet traffic will exceed 667 exabytes in 2013.
 
The point is, more data, faster data, than the world has ever known is upon us now. On an individual basis, too much data causes anxiety. On a global basis, we are, in my opinion, suffering collective data overload. Turmoil may be here to stay for a very long time.