(MENAFNEditorial)
May 12 2015
There are certain things that are so huge that they impact us all. Big Data is one of those things and is completely transforming the way we do business. George Orwell was pretty glued up back in 1948 when he wrote 1984 except a little less malevolent perhaps.
The basic idea behind the term 'Big Data' is that everything we do is increasingly leaving a digital footprint and so now there is rather a lot of it. I suppose you say it is ‘Big’ in its abundance. Big Data refers to our ability to take advantage of the ever-increasing volumes of data and interrogate it to produce structured understandable MI .
Almost everything we do is electronic nowadays ... And guess what ... It gets logged. So what is getting logged in particular:
Our Activity
Simple activities like going to listen to music on Spotify or reading a book are now generating data. Your smart phone serving as the Black Box that collects much of the data. How you use it and your Internet browser collects information on what you are looking for. Your credit card company collects data on where you shop and what you buy. It is difficult to imagine any activity that does not generate data.
Conversational Data
Emails have been around since the dawn of time but nowadays we have transcended simple email so that most of our conversations leave some kind of digital trail. Just think of all the conversations we have on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. Even many of our phone conversations are now digitally recorded. Do you use Whatsapp or Skype?
Photo and Video Image Data
Just think about all the pictures we upload and share. Thousands of them on shared media sites every second.
Phones and GPS
Sensors that collect and share data increasingly surround us. Take your smart phone it contains a global positioning sensor to track exactly where you are every second of the day. It includes an accelerometer to track the speed and direction in which you are travelling. Every tweet geocentric locates you. Ever watched Homeland? The bad guys don’t do too well when they turn their phone on.
The multitude of datasets is growing exponentially and volume commensurately. If we take any the data generated in the world between the beginning of time and 2008 the same amount of data is now generated every minute. New tools mean we can now interrogate this data and drawdown themes & MI.
The speed at which new data is generated is just incredible. Just think of social media messages going viral seconds. Technology allows us now to analyse the data while it is being generated without ever putting it into databases. This allows us to have a better understanding of what our customers like and don't like about our products AND we can deal with complaints on a real-time basis.
In the past we only focused on structured data. Neatly fitted into tables or relational databases. 80% of the world's data is unstructured (text images video voice etc.) With big data technology we can now analyse and bring together data of different types such as messages social media conversations photos sensor data video or voice recordings. With the right tools we can validate authenticity and allow for poor grammar and spelling. Those of us that prefers a little order to chaos……. can find it.
So how can we turn this mass of information into anything worthwhile?
Internet and cloud computing have been the key catalysts in the provision of abundant and clear accurate data. Together with the latest software and analytical approaches we can do some pretty cool stuff to gain insight direct from ur consumers.
• Text analytics helps us better understand and target audiences
• Understand and Optimize Business Processes based on predictive sales
• Redefinie product development
• Change the way we organize operations
• Make the business more data-focused on key demographics
• Optimize the supply chain
• Impact customer relationships - we have the ability to recognise Complaints in the real-time and take corrective measures immediately
• Identity verification including AML and KYC checks
• Identify fraud
If the consumer is king! Know what he wants!
In conclusion Big data is everywhere and omniscient! It can be to improve many aspects of our lives. It is not something to be afraid of. The Data Protection act 1954 ensures that your privacy is still protected. The applications of Big Data are endless and lastly only serve to the betterment of consumers.
We are only seeing the beginnings of a transformation into a massive data economy yet only by the most forward-thinking business owners I’ll capitalising unless tremendous resource. Any business that doesn't seriously consider the implications of big data runs the risk of being left behind.
Be nimble and adaptive. Stay flexible. Adapt and learn as technologies evolve and new opportunities will present themseleves.
Paul Wycherley
Paul.wycherley@hotmail.com
07946 246596
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