Big Data is for everyone – Part 1 of 2

If you haven’t considered big data for your organisation you must think again.

People consider big data as a new way to do data warehousing. However, it has a number of substantial unique functionalities. Apart from providing high-performance analytics, big data-driven technology is all about providing intuitive product designs and proactive solutions. A strategy that works hand-in-glove with big data and has changed the way we make business decisions is predictive analysis. It goes beyond the study of what happened, and instead focuses on what will happen and why it will happen. It gives you future insights based on what is trending today. Combine this with big data technology and you get refined products, relevant customer recommendations and streamlined processes.

A number of companies have benefited from this technology. Take the example of Netflix. It started off as a small company but gained success when it built large amounts of movie-based meta-data. Analysis of this data allows Netflix to recommend movies which closely match customer tastes. For every movie recommendation, there is a deep and multi-layered analysis that goes into the entire process.  Big data technology does this for you.

Big data has established its roots in several fields available today. Let’s take a look at its benefits.

• • Analysing big data gives organisations competitive advantage over peers as it provides real-time and high-frequency nature of data analysis from various angles.
  • With Big Data tools, technical teams can do the groundwork and then build repeatability into algorithms for faster searches. In other words, teams can develop systems and install interactive and dynamic visualization tools that allow business users to analyse, view and benefit from the data. Thus it provides useful insights.
  • Big data differs from narrow applications that look at just one source of data, yielding small answers. Big data examines a broad range of sources that include structured information such as purchase histories. It even takes into account the unstructured information such as text, images, audios and videos from social media and the public domain.

   Mid-size/ small organisations

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  • Big data analysis includes prediction tools to help clients ferret out project weaknesses. CIOs might want to use such tools before jumping into cloud computing, where there are huge possibilities of risks.
  • Previously, the life of a machine was predicted by the manufacturer. Big Data tools can give a more accurate estimate on when a machine will give out. Sensors installed in these machines can collect massive amounts of data. This data can be analysed to spot failing grid devices, thus reducing maintenance costs.
  • Big data can determine overall profitability for product sales. It may develop analytical models that combine a variety of data streams, including competitors' prices and sales transactions. Thus, it provides useful insights from the vast amounts of data. This helps in increasing the profit margin.
  So the short answer to the long question is – Yes! Big data is increasingly being used by everyone. The only questions for any organisation to ask are:
  1. When is the right time to implement big data?
  2. How do I evaluate what big data solutions I will need?
  Stay tuned to next  post to take the discussion further.    
  
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