The amount, speed and complexity of data captured in clinical trials is increasing. The development of novel and effective analytics and diagnostics tools and technologies has enabled the collection and integration of large amounts of data, offering tremendous potential for the capable and timely use of big data both within and across clinical trials. The capture of big data and a technical ability to analyze it is frequently referred to as one of the top 10 clinical innovations in the last decade on par with effective development and use of cloud technology and the internet