The Big Data Revolution: Technologies, Governance Challenges, and Sustainable Business Transformation

Abstract—Big Data is increasingly recognized as a transformative force reshaping industries, governance, and society. This paper presents a structured synthesis of current research (2020–2025) on Big Data technologies, applications, and governance challenges. Many studies highlight technical advances such as Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, and cloud data lakes. However, fewer focus on governance, ethics, and organizational readiness, especially in SMEs. The paper adopts a qualitative thematic review of peer-reviewed literature and industry reports. Findings indicate that Big Data’s impact extends beyond technical capability, requiring integrated approaches that balance scalability, security, regulatory compliance, and business value creation. Case studies in retail, healthcare, finance, and manufacturing demonstrate measurable benefits, while governance failures underscore risks of bias, privacy breaches, and project failures. The paper contributes a governance-oriented adoption framework and a comparative analysis of advantages, limitations, and risk mitigation strategies. Future trends such as real-time edge analytics, explainable AI, federated learning, and sustainability are discussed as essential directions for responsible deployment. Keywords—Big Data, Data Governance, Hadoop, Spark, Edge Analytics, AI Ethics, SMEs