Big Data has the potential to dramatically change the way organizations are making decisions, with the use of information and insights from it to enhance customer experience and build effective business models. No wonder then that Big Data is known as the most important technology trend of recent times. Does this mean that Big Data is this marvelous invention of today? Well not really.
It is true that most organizations now understand the potential of capturing data that generally streams into their business so that they can apply analytics and get significant value from it, but even as long ago as the 1950s, way before the term big data was even whispered, its concepts were in use on a smaller scale.
Businesses were using business analytics, in its basic form, over spreadsheets manually created, to uncover insights and trends.
So why is this buzz around big data now? Quite simply because of the speed and efficiency it offers. While years ago analytics could be done over the accumulated data, the method would only allow making a future prediction for their business. Today businesses can identify insights for immediate consumption. It is the pure ability to work quickly and stay responsive, is that gives the organizations the competitive edge which was lacking before.
Big Data is not a single component, as accumulating information is easy in today’s time and technology. Big Data is a combination of Data Management Technologies that have evolved over time. When organizations talk about Big Data they mean, To Store, Manage, and Manipulate, humungous amounts of structured and unstructured data at the right speed and the right time to get the right insights.
And thus Business Analytics or Big Data Analytics gains importance. It is business analytics that makes it possible for organizations to connect to their data, and use it effectively to identify new opportunities. This further leads to a better business environment, where you can make informed decisions, create an efficient operations environment, gain higher profits, and acquire happy customers.
Companies using Big Data Analytics gain value by…….
- Cost Reduction, Cloud-Based Analytics, Hadoop, and similar technologies can not only bring down the cost of storing large amounts of data but at the same time they can bring about more ways of doing business.
- Quicker Decision making, with the availability of in-memory analytics, and to add to that the ability to analyze the new sources of data, businesses can analyze real-time data, and make immediate decisions based on what they have learned.
- Segmented Products and Services, the power of analytics is that it can gauge customer needs so that organizations can create products catering to the specific needs of the said customers.
The only pitfall that organizations applying big data analytics initiatives need to be alert to, is the lack of internal analytics skills and the high cost of hiring experienced data scientists and data engineers to bridge the gap. If you are a fresher looking at career opportunities, with an interest in data analytics, then getting yourself trained in techniques of Big Data Analytics, will be a fantastic career choice.
