It’s impossible to turn left or right these days without hearing the words “big data” or “cloud” and for good reason. In order to be competitive in today’s marketplace, companies must make informed business decisions that will produce real results, whether those results are increasing revenue, retaining customers, or improving product quality. Big data is a key enabler to making those goals happen. This white paper analyzes the top five challenges companies face when undergoing a big data initiative and explains how they can effectively overcome them in the cloud.