Big data combines massive amounts of information or data so complex that it is impossible to handle it traditionally.
Big data is nothing new, and this term was used in the 90s. Some experts say that because of millions of devices connected to the internet, data generation has increased like never before, and they call that we are living the Big Data Phase 3.0.
Big data comes from internal sources like sales, financial and accounting, marketing, etc. But also from external sources like social media reviews consumers are leaving you, credit information, suppliers, or information you can purchase. Usually, all the data sources are stored in a data repository or warehouse, and all are used to make analyses and provide insights to make decisions. it is also integrated with AI or Artificial Intelligence technology.
Corporations are taking advantage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to process and analyze this massive amount of data by taking advantage of machine learning to help in the decision-making process and detect data insights that can help to predict situations to improve all kinds of processes in all departments.
A typical example of Big Data is the data generated by mobile phone carriers. Can you imagine the amount of data a mobile carrier like AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile handles daily? With millions of customers using different mobile devices, they generate millions of data information such as numbers of calls, terabytes of data uploaded and downloaded by customers and transactions in general, text messages sent and received, TV streaming, etc. The amount of data is so massive that you need a proper system to handle it. Usually, these big corporations have an officer with a team to handle this high volume of information, and they call this person the Chief Data Officer (CDO). The business analytics departments help the organization and use data visualization technology to provide insights, predict situations, etc.
Following the mobile carrier example and quoting from the page of AT&T: “AT&T carries more than 534.7 petabytes of data daily across its global network. To manage data at this scale, the CDO team has defined a common approach to how data is stored, managed, accessed, and shared across AT&T.”
Business intelligence or business analytics teams are so important that their findings can either help grow a company or send it to bankruptcy.
Companies like HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE-HCA) are taking the data managing and analytics such as a priority that they partnership Google to improve their data management systems. A quote from HCA website “to help create a secure and dynamic data analytics platform for HCA Healthcare and enable the development of next generation operational models focused on actionable insights and improved workflows.”
Benefits of Big Data Analytics
- New customers and customer retention. Every time customers make a transaction, and they leave a footprint like product preferences, purchase frequency, etc. With this type of data and proper software, you can tailor your offers to your target customer, make suggestions based on previous purchases, etc.
- Risks identification. Big data analytics can help reduce risks and offer risk management solutions and strategies how to address potential issues in different processes, for example in the bank sector, when a person uses a credit card in a way that is not normal behavior, a system can trigger an action to block the credit card and notify the customer.
- Cost Optimization. Financial and accounting departments can detect patterns in spends and related to different business activities and easily cut spending or even allocate resources to areas in need.
- Innovation. Big data analytics can help to update or replace a current line of products or services, optimize business and marketing strategies and customer service, or even help the HR department improve employee productivity or find new candidates for certain positions.
Nowadays any company can have access to a very decent low cost database warehouse system and integrate all their systems in a way that can help for example optimize sales and customer service processes. You don’t need to be a big corporation to take advantage of this technology, maybe your business don’t generate tons of data but if maybe enough to start thinking in a software that can give you more information than your register machine or your Excel spreadsheet, if this is your case, find specialize help.
