<p>Companies that make "billion dollar decisions" based on "gut instincts" rather than "predictive analysis" of Big Data will be "losers" in the ever-burgeoning information-based global economy, IBM CEO Virginia "Ginni" Rometty predicted Thursday night.</p><p>IBM CEO Virginia "Ginni" Rometty was a featured speaker at the Council on Foreign Relations 2013 Corporate Conference in New York on Thursday night. (Melanie Einzig/Council on Foreign Relations)</p><p>Rometty, a featured speaker at the Council on Foreign Relations 2013 Corporate Conference in New York, told her fellow corporate chiefs that "data is the new natural resource." Now in her 14th month as chairman, chief executive officer, and president of the technology giant, Rometty delivered a crystal clear message about the new age of computing that she envisions will revolve around how well companies understand massive amounts of data derived from social networks. Unless organizations "unlearn" old ways of managing, she said, they will lose to companies that understand "cognitive advantage" and the new corporate culture of information sharing that enables management to make fast decisions.</p><p>"The social network will be the new production line," she said, as she explained that "Big Data" changes the ways organizations understand what is going on with customers, how "value" is created and how "value" is delivered. Computers will have to learn continually from data because the information flow now is too immense to function with old-fashioned programs.</p><p><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/08/ibm-ceo-rometty-says-big-data-is-the-next-great-natural-resource.html">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzner/2013/03/07/ibm-ceo-ginni-rometty-crowns-data-as-the-globes-new-natural-resource/">IBM CEO Ginni Rometty Crowns Data As The Globe&#039;s Next Natural Resource</a> (Forbes)</p><p><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/information-management/ibm-ceo-rometty-shares-vision-of-big-dat/240150326">IBM CEO Rometty Shares Vision Of Big Data Era</a> (InformationWeek)</p><p><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/i-b-m-s-rometty-on-the-data-challenge-to-the-culture-of-management/">IBM&#039;s Rometty on the Data Challenge to the Culture of Management</a> (New York Times (blog))</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dirTq7Kn65Not-MHxCLt5krIucv6M&ned=us">8 additional articles.</a></p>