All CIOs have heard about big data by now: the Tsunami of data that is  washing over every company and the struggle that they have to collect  it, store it, and then process it in order to create actionable  information. 

As a CIO, when we think about big data  we are faced with a number of questions having to do with the  importance of information technology that we have not had to deal with  in the past. Is this going to require a new architecture? Will new  platforms be required? 

These are all questions that we are  going to  have to be able to answer, but first we need to make sure that we understand the questions.