What Is Big Data? Its Importance, Benefits, and Uses
Businesses have stringent requirements from when the data is generated till actionable insights are delivered to users. Therefore, data needs to be collected, stored and analyzed frequently. The importance of big data does not only revolve around how much data you have but also depends on how you use that data.??
Processing big data can help your team streamline resource #management, improve operational efficiencies, drive new growth opportunities, and enable smart decision-making. Big data is essential for shaping a company's future and activities. This blog will help you understand the importance of big data, its benefits, and its use cases.??
Let's start by understanding big data and its three V's.??
What is Big Data??
Big data refers to a collection of extensive data sets that grow exponentially. The data is usually so large and complex that no traditional data management tools can store or process it efficiently. Big data can manage both structured and unstructured data that inundate #businesses daily.??
This data can be analyzed for insights that improve decision-making and help B2C and B2B companies make strategic business moves. It can also be used to address business problems you wouldn't have been able to tackle before. However, this term refers to the data and the various frameworks, tools, and techniques involved.??
Now that you have learned what Big Data is let's get to know the source of Big Data.?
Big data comes from myriad sources and in multiple formats, including transaction processing systems, customer databases, documents, emails, medical records, internet clickstream logs, mobile apps, and social networks.?
The Three v’s of Big Data?
Since the data encompasses a massive volume of information, the velocity at which it is collected, and the variety of formats being covered are known as the three V's of big data. The concept of big data first gained momentum in the early 2000s, when Doug Laney (an industry analyst) articulated the now-mainstream definition of big data as the three V's. The three V's of big data are:?
1. Volume??
This refers to the amount of data. Big organizations nowadays collect data from myriad sources such as transactions, smart (IoT) devices, industrial equipment, videos, images, audio, and social media, among others. Therefore, the amount of data stored can range from terabytes to petabytes. Things like Twitter data feeds, clickstreams on a web page or a mobile app, or sensor-enabled equipment can be enormous and can require your company to have an extensive data system.??
2. Velocity?
This refers to the rate at which the data is received. #bigdata can intake data at a high velocity, streaming directly into memory instead of being stored onto a disk. Because of technological advancement, data streams into businesses at an unprecedented speed and must be handled promptly. Velocity also refers to the rate at which the data can be acted upon. Some internet-enabled smart products operate in real-time and require professionals to do real-time evaluations and actions.?
3. Variety?
This refers to the wide range of data formats that can be collected. Previously the data used to be in the form of database files like excel spreadsheets, csv, and access files. In contrast, big data can be collected as structured, semi-structured, or unstructured. This data can be presented as documents, emails, numbers, text, images, audio, social media interactions, PDFs, stock ticker data, and financial transactions. This variety of unstructured data poses specific storage, mining, and analyzing issues.?
Advantages of Big Data Processing?
Use Cases of Big Data?
1. Product or service development?
Companies like P&G and Netflix use big data to analyze target audience groups, social media, and test markets before they plan and launch new products or services. They use big data to anticipate customer demand, classify the key attributes of past and current products or services, and then build predictive models for their new products and services.??
2. Create successful email marketing campaigns?
Email marketers have a tremendous opportunity for leveraging big data. It can help them deliver high impact, create relevant content to the right audience segments through the right delivery channel at the right time. Create email campaigns that are highly relevant to your subscribers?and generate real brand engagement. ?
3. Improve customer service?
Big data enables companies to collect data from social media, web visits, call logs, and other sources and analyze it to improve the customer experience. Marketing and sales teams can deliver personalized offers, reduce customer churn, and handle issues proactively with the help of big data.??
4. Drive innovation and creativity.?
Big data can provide a company with all the necessary insights to develop new and innovative ideas for products or services or even their #marketing campaigns. The right data insight on industry trends can improve decisions about financial and planning considerations.?
5. Enhance customer retention and acquisition?
Big data allows businesses to understand better their perspective customers' needs, interests, behavioral patterns, and usage patterns. These data insights are crucial if a company wants to enhance its offerings, increase conversion rates, generate qualified leads, and retain its existing customers.?
6. Better cybersecurity and fraud prevention?
Security landscapes and compliance requirements are constantly evolving. Companies can use big data analytics to identify patterns in data that indicate fraud or spot oddities in system behavior. Big data systems can sift through enormous transactional data on servers, databases, apps, files, and devices to identify and mitigate possible fraud.?
7. Predictive maintenance??
Big data allows #professionals to detect operational anomalies and potential defects in equipment and processes to address them before failure occurs. The team can deploy more cost-effective maintenance, maximizing uptime for parts and equipment.?
Who are the users of Big Data??
Financial services firms?use big data systems for risk management and real-time analysis of market data. Even the manufacturing and transportation companies rely on big data to manage their supply chains and optimize delivery routes. But if you are?finding it hard?to build connections with big data users then we have a solution for you. DataCaptive will provide you with?Big Data Users Database so you can promote your software solutions and tools easily.
Conclusion??
Big data can help you address a range of business activities, from customer experience to analytics. It has also aided businesses in making wiser decisions by providing them with knowledge of the likelihood of specific outcomes. Therefore, if you plan to incorporate big data systems into your company, we hope this blog helps you understand big data's benefits and use cases.?