The one-two punch of big data and cloud computing is rapidly changing many businesses, organizations and industries. New technologies allow access to huge amounts of data at speeds never before achieved. In addition, new software applications let managers, information professionals and entrepreneurs quickly analyze and evaluate complex data by reviewing graphs, charts, and reports to make better decisions about the future of their organizations.
River of Big Data
The worldwide market for big data is expected to grow more than 40% every year, reaching more than $16 billion in 2015 alone. What exactly is big data? These are huge sets of data collected from a wide variety of sources including social media, medical data, software logs, videos, closed circuit cameras, audio, wearable technology, sensors like grocery store scanners, mobile devices and much more.
A good example of the huge amounts of data available is social media information. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media receive tons of videos, photos, blog posts and updates every day. It is a fire hose of data from millions of users.
Business and organizations are utilizing this massive flow of data to help them analyze past patterns and better predict the future. The goal is to make better decisions on budgeting and resource allocation. For example, doctors can evaluate decades of historical data from dozens of data sources in order to find repeating patterns to predict future health problems, diseases and medical trends. CRM software firms try to better identify sales trends and opportunities. Delivery services use big data to better schedule air and ground routes.
Other fields are using social media information as well. An airline might decide to change routes based on comments and questions from customers. A restaurant might open new locations after fielding queries from social media posters. A retail store could add new items based on feedback from customers requesting certain products. Promotional sales and advertising dollars may be altered to take advantage of opportunities arising from social media trends.
However, the sheer amount of information requires trained specialists to monitor, summarize, and evaluate the data. They are also tasked with presenting the information in reports, graphs, tables, trend lines and other formats to make it easy for decision-makers to understand and act on the material.
The Rise of Cloud Data and Business Intelligence Tools
Alongside the increase in big data, the proliferation of affordable cloud service vendors and the availability of user-friendly business intelligence software tools has made high-level analysis available to everyday users. Now organizations do not need a staff of data analysts to make use of big data. Front-line workers employ user-friendly programs to quickly create diagrams and reports for predictive analysis.
For example, cloud-based CRM companies are using these tools to help their customers analyze sales funnels and improve customer personalization. Marketing automation and e-commerce firms are rapidly incorporating cloud-based big data in their ongoing operations.
Cloud computing helps organizations several ways:
- The power to incorporate both structured and unstructured data into one set.
- The ability to create temporary structures at the time of data analysis, which means it is separate from the underlying data itself.
- The ability to tap into data sets only available through the cloud. By accessing multiple data sets, business intelligence professionals can add additional information that will enhance the organization’s internal data.
- The automation of analysis while business processes continue without any attention from a human.
- The ability to access and analyze data “on-the-fly” in real-time.
The Smart Grid
Here is an example: The power industry is using the cloud and big data to help determine the best way to control and route energy depending on demand from businesses and residences. The “smart grid” constantly re-evaluates and allocates the amount of power used in a community in real time. It allows governments, cities and states to make better decisions on what power levels they will need in the future.
Another exciting use of cloud data is in health care. Right now, data sets are spread all throughout the health care industry. Cloud data analysis pulls together structured and unstructured medical information. Health professionals will be able to make better decisions about patient care, surgery, government support, medical grants, case study trials and other concerns. New opportunities will open up for doctors, patients, administrators, government officials and others to better streamline health care services.
Data Visualization Analysis
In the past, organizations could not access these data sources easily. The computing power didn’t exist, nor did the ability to pluck relevant information rapidly from massive amounts of text, video, audio and graphic data. In addition, there are now many visual data software tools that anyone can use to create images, charts, graphs, 3-D models and other formats. Clear, powerful, and informative visual models give clarity, depth and context to the river of information.
Cloud computing becomes faster and cheaper to more organizations every year. They can now access not only structured data within their own organization, but data stores from industry and government sources. By accessing multiple data sources, each employee can analyze information quickly and help improve their organization’s decision-making and performance.
