If you as an individual have not yet come across the concept of big data, then now is the time to step up and take notice! Your company has to include big data analytics in its strategy from now on, else you risk alienating your customers due to a lack of understanding about what they want, as well as losing out to your competitors who will be using big data.
Using big data can and will transform the way you run your business, and even your personal life if you so wish. In this manner, it should hold a great deal of importance for everyone from your grandma to the Chairman of your company’s board of governors.
Despite its importance, however, so many people still have relatively little, or no, knowledge of what big data actually is or how to use it properly. Hopefully that will change after reading the below hints and tips.
Big data essentially refers to the digital footprints (data) that we leave behind each time we do something online. This data can be collected and analysed and the business can then react appropriately. Our ability to analyse data is not, of course, new, however, the recent technological advances that have been made have really changed how much data can be collected and analysed in a big way.
How is big data collected?
You’d be surprised at how much of a big data trail you leave every single day, whether you’re listening to music or talking on your mobile, tweeting, taking pictures or even shopping, you will be leaving behind some online data, which can be collected and analysed by someone, somewhere.
How is big data used?
The collection and analysing of big data can cause a lot of worry for people, especially in terms of privacy. People are quite rightly concerned about the collection of their data being used against their will and for nefarious purposes, and there will always be those who are increasingly concerned about the amount of personal data being collected by organisations and the government.
As with most things thought, the appropriate rules and regulations will be put in place eventually, especially as big data continues to evolve and people become ever more insistent in their demand for their data to be protected.
Companies use big data analysis to better understand their customers. They use this insight and understanding to target their customers and to predict trends. All of this helps a company understand which products to sell (and when), and when customers might be thinking of leaving them (for a competitor).
Big data can also help a business to improve its processes, for instance upon seeing what people are talking about online (Twitter, Facebook etc.) or searching for (in search engines) a business can adjust its levels of stock and optimise its supply chains.
Big data has so much more to give!
As our understanding of big data analytics continues to evolve, the realisation that it can help us in so many more ways hits home. The health industry for instance can benefit a huge amount from big data analytics in terms of cures being found and disease being stopped in its tracks. The police and credit card industry, too, can use the analysis of big data not only to help catch criminals but to forecast where and when criminal and fraudulent activity might take place.
We have also seen the idea of “Smart Cities” taking off in the last couple of years, with cities using big data analytics to make everything flow faster and easier, i.e. traffic flows, buses and trains connecting to one another, smart street lighting and much more.
But…why should we care so much about big data?
Well, the first response to this question is: because it isn’t going away! The trend of big data is only going to keep growing. You will not be able to avoid the concept and practicalities of big data. It will interact in some way with your company, your life…everything.
More and more tools will be developed to help us collect, store and analyse big data, and gradually the price of all this process will also come down, therefore becoming a lot more accessible. In general terms, as things become ever more accessible you start to see more and more uses being developed and so this will probably occur for big data too.
There will always be those who panic and grow concerned at the amount of data being collected and analysed. However, if you ever start to get worried, just take some time to think about the wider picture. For instance surely you could not possibly want to limit the advantages it can give to the healthcare industry and police force, could you?