Developing technologies and new businesses demonstrate the power of big data and how it has come to define our lives in the modern world. From saving more lives to selling expensive stuff, it is big data which has been helping individuals, businesses and governments to find out new world solutions to problems. So what is big data about? As implied, it is a collection of huge data sets that are analyzed to reveal trends, patterns, associations and causes related to human behavior, interactions and conditions. One would be surprised to know that all of this data comes from any digital interactions we do every day.
From search engine queries to the products we buy, everything we do on the internet gets registered. The penetration of smartphones has been able to leverage this data collection opportunity to a huge extent in recent times. Today, more than a billion Google searches are done every day and 294 billion Emails sent by users across the globe. Wearable and smart technologies have further ensured that the world is connected with over trillions of sensors that track, monitor, communicate and even help with real world functionalities. Big Data has no limitations for its sources. From Tweets you make to Instagram posts you like, everything generates data that is further analyzed to bring about better services.
Even in countries like Kenya where food and hygiene are scarce, poverty is rifle, smartphones and devices are getting increasingly common. Well, this has allowed organizations like the UN WFP to understand the correlation between mobile data use and food consumption habits. UN WFP reveals that the more data people in these regions consume, the better quality food they serve at their tables. The bottom line is that big data emanating from the digital footprint of users acts as a valuable operational information on food security.
While this is just an example of how digitization and poverty are inversely interlinked, big data covers every facet of human behavior and problems today. It has become the cue to understanding the changing environment, consumer trends, fashion trends, improvements in medicine, technology, engineering, real estate and everything else that concerns our living. The implication of big data even extends to the development of artificial intelligence and virtual reality that is being helped to design driverless cars to space robots.
Big data has been responsible for changing the personal and organizational success for a wide swath of services.
Financial Equality
Refined analytics gives access to a range of financial services including enhanced insurances and micro loans for demographics on limited resource communities.
Agricultural Efficiency
Data from global agricultural practices combined with technological improvements have been offering smarter outcomes including better monitoring of crop health, pests, fertilizer, soil, weather, etc. Today, a large portion of the agro-based economies rely on sustainable farming methods as opposed to unreliable processes prevalent a decade ago.
Education
The birth of mobile computing and cloud has purely revolutionized the education system across the globe wherein students in even remote areas get access to high-quality learning tools. Big data supported by crowdsourcing and online education portals have also reduced the cost of quality education. Also, modern education can be highly customized and cater to the skill development of short-term programs.
Healthcare
As with education, big data has been a big improvement for the quality and accessibility of healthcare. The data collected from patients and hospitals across the globe has reduced the cost of drugs and determine new means of treatment. Uploading of genomics is another significant contribution of Big Data analytics.
Environmental Health
Increased carbon emission, greenhouse gasses, global warming and other climate changes can be better monitored and fought with the help of Big Data. The easiest example lies in wearable devices connected through internet providing awareness and means to stand against local environmental challenges.
Decline in Corruption
Better monitoring of assets through fool-proof big data analytics will help governments to track economies and facilitate a better allocation among everyone in the society. This also tackles the problems with unwieldy bureaucracy, misinformation, red tape and other types of obstacles to transparent economics.
The future is safe with big data, but we need to start finding new opportunities too. A lot of positive changes can break-open when we begin to explore more and plan big.
