The document discusses the role of big data in optimizing enterprise data warehouses (EDWs), highlighting results from surveys indicating that many companies prefer big data solutions for EDW optimization rather than replacement. It outlines the challenges of traditional EDWs and presents Hortonworks' solutions, including interactive SQL on Hadoop and tools like Hive and AtScale for improved performance and analytics. Case studies are provided, demonstrating significant performance improvements and cost savings achieved through these solutions across various industries.