We are presently at a time when information is everything and data, not just data.
Big data is the latest coin that has massive effects, on businesses across the world.
A few years ago, businesses used to guess a lot and kept groping in the dark for anything that they could grab before making business decisions. Now, they just focus on making decisions based on generated data.
The more an organisation collates, organises and analyses data, the more the company stands to make better and well-informed, business decisions. These are decisions that will not only give increase in terms of business growth, but also improvements in the business valuation.
For better emphasis on big data and its impact on business, Ginni Rometty, the Chief Executive Officer of IBM’s quote could not have explain it any better – “Big data will spell the death of customer segmentation and force the marketer to understand each customer as an individual within 18 months or risk being left in the dust.”
With billions of people scattered around the world, inputting their personal details online, making online transactions, streaming music and watching videos, receiving and sending messages via social media, through the use of mobile devices and apps, a pool of big data is being formed every microsecond.
All the data generated is being funneled and stored in a warehouse that serves as a receptacle of information.
With the massive paradigm shift, of business organisations, towards the use of automated technology to aid fast decision making in their businesses, there arises the problem of managing and processing the massive data generated.
Technology companies like, Sparkdigital, Cloud computing, Hadoop, among others, have, however, been able to handle this to a large extent.
Big data refers to a specialised spectrum of information that can be systematically described and analysed, in a structured, semi-structured and unstructured term. Information gathered is harnessed for maximum productivity.
Best simplified as the more information you have about something, the wiser and pin-point decision, you will make on it. “If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” – Jim Barksdale, former NetscapeCEO.
Big data is very dynamic in nature and the whole scope can change in a matter of a second, minute, a day, or a year. Understanding the functions of ‘Big Data’ gives a business organisation a competitive edge over other corporations. Big data gives empirical evidence based on what is on ground and also keeps an eagle eye on an angle that has not been explored, or not well explored before.
Across all the sectors, one can think of starting from IT, health care, manufacturing, financial services, agriculture, retail, education, government, etc. Big data is the fuel powering the productivity and evolution that we see in all these sectors.
There is no way, a new company can survive in a market that is filled with competitors, without being armed with data-driven strategies, as more established business organisations, stay ahead of the game by spending millions of dollars to generate data-driven strategies.
All these point to the fact that, big data, will not only ensure the growth and more impacting insight into a business, but, also, the survival of the business.
The influence of big data, in the manufacturing sector, for example, has been massive, as there has been improvement in manufacturing processes, as the authenticity of drugs manufactured, can be tracked.
Better quality assurance has been achieved, coupled with a significant reduction in tests that are required, — Finish Reading on the Punch
