As a business owner, you’re probably familiar with the term “big data.” No, it’s not data written/printed on huge paper or fliers, but rather it is the large volume of data (from unstructured and structured resources) inundating a business day in and day out. The amount of big data your organization receives isn’t nearly as important as how you are utilizing the big data to improve your business standing. Steven Scott Bayesian believes relying on big data, businesses can analyze insights allowing them to make better and more streamlined decisions, in turn, making smarter, strategic, business moves.
Volume, velocity, and variety –
When analyzing big data, these are three important areas which will help businesses implement the information they are receiving. Volume, refers to the sources where big data is collected from, ranging from business transactions to social media, which provide insight as to how their business is functioning. The velocity is the rate at which the unstructured and structured data comes in. From emails to RFID tags and sensors, this information is coming in virtually every second of the day. Lastly, the variety of data is relevant to monitoring and analyzing it. Traditional databases, structured, numeric, text documents and more. The more variety, the better it will allow businesses to monitor, review, and implement the results, to ensure they are accurately implementing changes within their organization.
The growth in big data today is truly inconceivable. Especially given the addition of social media to the mix. A business can get 10,000 tweets in a matter of minutes (major corporations), or have reviews being added online daily through social media outlets. Because the amount of data is far too great for any business to truly monitor, only a small amount of this data is actually being monitored and analyzed. Businesses have to find better ways to streamline the manner in which they monitor, track, and analyze this data, to ensure they are making positive strides, and changes customers actually want to see, to ensure growth.
Why big data matters –
Big data is important for various reasons; among these are:
– Helps in reducing cost/overhead. By analyzing areas you can eliminate waste, you can better allocate funds and company resources.
– Reduce time/waste. You can streamline processes and better allocate company resources, to ensure positive strides for the company.
– Optimize offerings and properly allocate funds for new development. Relying on big data, companies can see what customers like (what they don’t), and decide how to best allocate resources in future development.
Further, companies can make smarter decisions for their business and sales. Find ways to implement new coupons, target promotional ads towards social media campaigns, determine root causes of failures, and find ways to streamline business operations to avoid those failures.
Big data will provide all of the answers to these, and other questions a business might have. From there, companies can utilize this information, to create a more solid foundation, better products, and improve customer service, to ensure growth into the future for their business, and increased profit margins going forward as well.
