Big Data

What is Big Data?

The term big data refers to a larger data, usually involving more complexity and consequently harder to manage and process, especially with more traditional methods. These data management and processing challenges in big data associate with the concepts of the three Vs – variety, volume, velocity.

There are many definitions and interpretations of big data, and every business measures it differently. Regardless, the three Vs establish a conceptual guide of the term.

Variety

Variety refers to the different formats as well as sources of data. Nowadays, data comes in many types (text, audio, video, etc.) and from a wide range of sources (online transactions, social media feeds, web logs, and many more).

Volume

Volume refers to the size of data, and with the amount and variety of information available, it can be between terabytes (1000 gigabytes) and petabytes (1000 terabytes).

Velocity

Velocity refers to the processing speed of data. The rate of processing speed differs in every stage (data collection, analysis, storage), and the importance of velocity matters greatly as some products operate in real-time.

Benefits of Big Data

Customer Insight

The use of big data can help organisations learn more about their customers’ preferences and needs, as well as understand deeper the decision making behind their purchasing behaviour. This in turn creates a more efficient customer retention and acquisition, but in addition more effective recommendations and audience targeting.

Innovation

Creativity and ideas do not create innovations alone. Thorough insights and good understanding of the subject area are big part and key to innovation. Through the adoption of big data, businesses can enhance innovation in their existing products as well as boost the research and development of unique products and services.

Improved Operation

Big data can increase the operation efficiency of an organisation. With a vast amount of data from customers and current operating processes, and with the help of analytics, companies can optimise productivity and consequently boost customer satisfaction.

Cost Optimisation

Efficiently optimised operations derives cost optimisation. Cost optimisation in this scenario covers savings for the overall operations, which in turn increases business profitability as well as potential development, but in addition data cost optimisation. Big data can significantly reduce the cost of storing, processing, and analysing data.

Risk Management

Risk management is a large concept of any business operation. Big data is a leading tool in developing risk management strategies, by utilising data in decision making and predetermining potential adverse events.

Market Insight

The practice of big data plays a critical role in market intelligence. Organisations can utilise their data and acquire an advantage point in the marketplace by expanding their market dynamics expertise.

Next: Data Pipeline