“Big Data” is moving into its second act, and winners of the second phase are emerging, predicts Hollie Moore Haynes, managing director with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.

Opportunities for investors are huge, Haynes writes in an article for Fortune.

The ever-expanding amount of data businesses produce, Haynes writes, has created demand for apps, infrastructure and services needed to capitalize on the enormous amount of data.

Editor's Note: How You Lost $85,000 During the Last Decade. See the Numbers.

Big Data will grow from $3.2 billion in 2010 to $16.9 billion in 2015, predicts research firm IDC. Global support for Big Data will have 4.4 million jobs, including 1.9 million in the United States, by 2015, she says, citing Gartner analyst Peter Sondergaard.

Venture capital firms investing in startups will produce some winners; however, Haynes advocates picking the emerging leaders.

Companies must understand what the data revolution means and begin investing in people and technology now to avoid missing out of the next act.

So far, the business has focused on enabling information technology departments to store and organize data to be reviewed by senior managers. Intelligence was secondary.

"The second act of Big Data is about action," Haynes writes. The business will move beyond reporting data and into predictive information that will help managers make better decisions. That calls for building "a new layer of infrastructure, applications and services."

Investors have huge opportunities in everything from law enforcement, healthcare, finance and government. "No industry will remain untouched," Haynes predicts.

A survey by NewVantage Partners, a technology consulting firm, indicates that 85 percent of Fortune 1000 C-suite executives have already launched Big Data initiatives. Their main reason is to obtain data-driven decision making that leads to smarter decisions.

Most executives, according to NewVantage, are ready to invest in Big Data initiatives that provide "real business value," especially ones that accelerate the decision-making process.

"Executives can answer critical business questions that previously took days, weeks or months, and required significant data engineering," states Paul Barth, NewVantage Partners managing partner, in a press release.

"Big Data enables executives to short-cut this process.”

Editor's Note: How You Lost $85,000 During the Last Decade. See the Numbers.