Big data” has recently become the focus of academic and corporate investigation. The extant literature identifies ‘big data’ as the ‘next big thing in innovation’ Drawing on a systematic review and case study findings, this paper presents an interpretive framework that analyses the definitional perspectives and the applications of big data. we used the Hace theorem to understand the concept and a specific classification formwork to have a better understanding of it’s role in capturing business value as we concluded with a case study in the debt collection field where big data was used to find insolvent debtor.