Big Data is shorthand for advancing trends in technology that open the door to a new approach to understanding the world and making decisions. There is a lot more data, all the time, growing at 50 percent a year, or more than doubling every two years, estimates IDC, a technology research firm. Data analysts help businesses make sense of an explosion of data - Web traffic and social network comments, as well as software and sensors that monitor shipments, suppliers and customers - to guide decisions, trim costs and lift sales. A report last year by the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the consulting firm, projected that the United States needs 140,000 to 190,000 more workers with "deep analytical" expertise and 1.5 million more data-literate managers. In the developed economies of Europe, the report estimates, government administrators could save more than $149 billion in operational efficiency improvements alone by using Big Data.