In recent times, the global healthcare industry valued at US$9.59 trillion (PwC Report, 2015) has undergone sweeping changes in every aspect of its business. These include massive adoption of electronic health records (EHR) by governments, hospitals and physicians to full digitization of research databases and billions of patient records belonging to pharmaceutical and insurance companies respectively. The onset of mobile health apps, wearable medical devices, telemedicine and automated medicine dispensers that work like ATMs portend a smart, digital-driven future. Furthermore, there is industry wide focus on healthcare compliance as per stringent regulatory norms along with meeting consumer demand for affordable medical care through innovative business models like the Healthcare Alliance.

If there is one single factor which unifies all these healthcare trends, it is Big Data – the huge gaps faced by the industry in converting unstructured information bytes into meaningful business intelligence.