Big data describes the large volume of data both structured and unstructured flowing in a business on a day-to-day basis. It is a term used to manage collection, processing and accessibility data in real-time. It is a collection of tools, techniques and technologies for working with data productively, at any scale. Big data affects practically every industry such as banking, education, manufacturing, retail, health care, government sectors etc.
Initially LinkedIn, Google and eBay were the first to test with big data, but today, big data analytics is a tried and tested tool. Companies are merging data from advertising, sales, transactional systems, customers history, social chats, etc. to help them make more accurate decisions.
The sources for big data generally fall into one of three categories;
- Streaming or flowing data
- Social media data
- Publicly available sources
Once you know the potential sources for data, you can decide to analyze, stock and manage it.
The major benefits of big data are:
1. Cost Reduction and Revenue Generation
Big data and good corporate intellect can make big funds for many companies. By big data analytics technologies can provide a substantial cost reduction and increase in revenue. For example, Intel is using big data since 2012 and by doing so, instead of running every single chip through 19,000 tests; they can focus tests on specific chips to cut down test time and saved a total of $3 million in manufacturing costs.
2. Faster and Better Decision Making
Organizations are seeking both faster and better decisions with big data. HR professionals are finding it very important in selecting and recruiting the candidates. Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. are gathering enormous quantities of customer data every day. This helps them to read customers minds and take decisions about sale-purchase and advertising their products
3. New Products and Services
Creating new products and services for customers are another interesting benefit of big data. Online companies are doing so for years, but now offline firms are also doing it frequently. For example, GE, launched a venture in new service models for its manufacturing products using big data analytics.
4. Time Reductions
Another objective of big data tools is the reduction of the time required to perform a particular process. It can bring considerable improvements in the time required to perform a computing task.
5. Other Benefits
- Finding out the root causes of issues and defects in approximately real time.
- Recalculating complete risk assortments in no time.
- Noticing duplicitous behavior before it disturbs the business.
Takeaways for CIOs
Big data is not only relevant and secure, but it is also timely, holistic, accessible and authoritative. Before going for a big data analytics a CIO should consider the following from the Information Technology perspective:
- Abundant and cost effective storage
- Faster processing
- Cloud computing
- Open source platforms
- Large grid environments
- High connectivity and high throughputs