How Big Data can help your venture?
Surely you have heard the phrase “information is power” and for your business there is nothing truer. Today we are going to explain what Big Data is, what it is for and how you can use it to boost your business.
From the name, it is easy to guess that it is a large amount of data, but its importance lies in the fact that it goes beyond the simple collection of data, what is really important is what your business can do with Big Data.
What is Big Data?
Big data is also known as big data, massive data and large-scale data is a term that refers to a considerable volume of data, which exceeds the capacity of conventional software, either to be captured, managed or processed in a reasonable time.
When we talk about Big Data we are also referring to the process that involves data extraction, storage and deduction of the predictions that can be formulated through the analysis of the observed patterns.
Incredible as it may seem, the history of the term Big Data begins in the 1990s, when NASA researchers realized that the increase of data was becoming a problem for computer systems. A couple of decades later, thanks to the explosion of the Internet and social networks, the volume of data to analyze was even larger, but much more valuable, especially if processed in the right way.
But how big are we talking about for a data set to be considered Big Data. Most analysts agree that today we can call this term information ranging from 30 terabytes to several petabytes.
Big data has been used not only by the media and marketing, but also by the government, as it is a very specific way to know the public and increase the efficiency of messages.
The management of these amounts of data has given rise to new professions, which are currently in high demand. In fact, companies such as Oracle, Google, Microsoft have spent large amounts of money to build specialized software in the management and processing of data.
Why is Big Data important?
Big data is important for companies because it provides reference points for decision-making, it can even provide answers to questions that were not previously known.
The collection of large amounts of data, its analysis and above all the search for trends within this data allow companies to move much faster and more efficiently when they need to make certain decisions, of course it also allows them to identify problem areas and some possible solutions.
The right Big Data analysis helps organizations leverage their data and use it to identify new opportunities and growth areas leading to smarter decisions, greater efficiency, and can even reduce costs and increase profits.
The application of Big Data can help your venture in the following areas:
Innovation: with a greater ability to measure your customers’ needs and their satisfaction, by analyzing consumer data it is easier to create new products that specialize in satisfying your customers’ needs.
Advertising: creating advertising campaigns is often a complicated job, but vital to grow your business, and a correct analysis of data on consumption, buyers and your competition can help you to make better focused campaigns and if you need it with less expense.
Improve decision-making: this is one of the great advantages of Big Data and you will see the results in any area of your business. Thanks to data processing tools companies can analyze their situation and also some future projections with which you can make better informed decisions.
Cost reduction: data analysis on your production cost, inputs and materials can store and process data on your production costs, so you can make decisions when you have to reduce without having to lower the quality of your products or services.
How to implement Big Data in your business
Now that you know what it is and what it’s for, you may be wondering how you can use Big Data in your business. Here are some tips to get you started.
Define objectives: as in any project, the first thing you should do is to set achievable and concrete objectives, and from them, it will be easier to design the rest of the strategy.
Delimit data and sources: the next thing to do is to identify and delimit the data. As we have said, one of the biggest problems to make a quality analysis is that there are many sources and a great variety of data. Sometimes this does not help, it only hinders the processing and analysis, so establish what data and from what sources you are going to get the data.
There are several sources to obtain the data, for example we have data obtained by the people themselves that comes from emails, messages by WhatsApp, social networks and surveys. Then there is data obtained from transactions such as billing, phone calls and network logins. There is also e-marketing data, information given by cookies when browsing the Internet.
Integrating the data: this is the third step, this is where you start to sort this data, but don’t worry because this is also where you can use Big Data applications for your venture, which will make your job easier.
Data analysis: in this phase is where you must group the data and find patterns, to help you understand the reality of your business, it sounds complicated, and it is, but for this you have several applications such as Hadoop, MongoDB or Apache Drill. This phase will allow the project to become operational, and the results will enable better informed, effective and efficient decision-making.
Challenges for big data
Big data analysis has recently grown by leaps and bounds, however there are still some challenges that you should take into account if you want to use it in your enterprise.
For your data management to be of quality, specialists recommend looking at the 5 V’s of Big Data: velocity, variety, volume, veracity, and value.
These characteristics are often not so easy to achieve, for example, it is not always possible to obtain real and high quality data from an environment that tends to be changing and complicated.
Some problems you may face are :
Data volatility
Data volatility changes rapidly and that makes the validity of your data collection very short, that is why your data processing power must be very high so that the results are not obsolete in a changing reality, in a situation like this you can make anachronistic decisions based on past data can lead to great consequences for your venture.
Data integration
Nowadays, we have as a base a source to obtain our data and with this also come different and complex structures between them, this makes data integration even more difficult.
In addition, the more complex and variable the data is, the more you will surely have to have specialized equipment and personnel for the storage in private servers, but it is also better to hire professionals to get the best out of them.
In short, having knowledge about the information flowing through your company will help you to manage it more efficiently, but before you start collecting data, tell us about the importance of Big Data for your company.