Big data is big news, and it has the potential to benefit your business no matter what industry you’re in. With proper analysis, big data can give businesses real insight into all manner of things, helping the C-suite make big decisions that can help their organisations grow.
But what is big data? We take a quick look, before explaining how your organisation can benefit from the latest industry buzz term.
Big data explained
Big data is best explained using the three Vs – volume, velocity and variety.
It’s no secret that in the digital age we live in (especially with the dawn of the Internet of Things), we’re producing masses and masses of data every day. In fact, it’s expected that the amount of data in the world will double every 2 years. That’s an incredible amount.
In the past, the creation of so much data would have been problematic, as we didn’t have means to store or understand it. Today, however, things are different, and we’re now able to transfer and store it with relative ease, and have algorithms that can help us gain insight from the incredible volumes of data we have access to.
The second V, then, is velocity, the sheer rate at which data is currently being made, visualised, analysed and stored. Unlike in the past, when databases were updated daily or weekly, today, data is made in real-time, as the internet, and internet connected devices, allows it to be delivered the moment it’s made.
Variety is the third V, and refers to the millions of different types of data that are being produced by organisations, much of which isn’t even considered. Structured, unstructured, semi structured – all of this data requires different tools for analysis, but when done right, can provide you with information on things like how your brand is perceived or your products used.
So how can big data benefit your business?
Know Your Audience
Questionnaires and focus groups can be resigned to the past with the use of big data, as it allows organisations to talk to and get to know their customers in real time. Things like email click through rate and social interactions can help you see what’s working and what isn’t, and this, of course will help to improve both marketing and sales.
Understand Your Competition
Big data can help businesses to better understand their competitors – how they’re performing and what they’re doing – particularly online. For example, if your competitor were to change their prices, yours could automatically update in order to remain competitive.
Become More Efficient
By analysing your business data, you should be able to find areas where you can become better organised and more efficient. For example, logistics businesses could use GPS combined with traffic and weather information to save money and time.
Big data and your business
The above examples are only a tiny glimpse into the way in which big data can impact on your business. Every organisation is different and will have a whole variety of business problems that can potentially be solved with data. Start by identifying operational issues your business has, then work backwards. There’s bound to be a dataset available that can help you overcome it.
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Maytech provides a secure cloud data transfer and online file storage platform helps companies centralise and control how they send large files across the globe. Find out how Maytech can help your business with its big data needs here.