A big data innovator has been named a finalist in the 2015 New Zealand EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Carmen Vicelich is the founder and CEO of Kiwi analytics firm Data Insight - a fast-growing company that works to turn big data into actionable insights for New Zealand organisations.

Vicelich launched Data Insight in April 2013 with the aim of helping Kiwi businesses to utilise the ever expanding torrent known as big data.

With an ongoing focus on data extraction, analysis and creation of actionable insights, the Data Insight team has doubled every six months since the launch.

The company works with Kiwi organisations across many different industries, applying intelligent data analysis to identify insights.

One product provided by the company is Valocity, a property information, market insight and valuation service using cloud-based technology to analyse data.

Vicelich attributes her nomination as EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist to two key factors: the ever-increasing importance of data analysis, and her mission to turn data into meaningful insights.

“Data has never been more important, every day there's more than ever. During the past two years alone, more data has been created than in the entire history of humankind. But unless you can turn that data into information that you can use, you might as well not have any,” Vicelich says.