Big data can be described as large data sets where traditional data processing applications simply aren’t adequate enough. More data in the form of text, video, voices, photos, etc., has been created in the past two years than ever before. Despite this, there is a common misconception in what people believe as “The Big Data Revolution”. The revolution is not only the proliferation of information during recent years but, the way we are now able to process and make use of that information.
So why is this happening now?
Ryan Shuttleworth (Technical Evangelist for Amazon Web Services) believes that we now live in a world where everyone is mobile connected. We use our Smartphones to publish information about ourselves - which can be used by businesses to answer questions that used to be out of their domain. Questions like: Who are our customers? How do people really use our products? What do people really want?
Furthermore, with cloud technology, we are able to store and analyze larger amounts of data faster and more economically. The Cloud allows the potential of big data to be accessible to smaller companies who may not have the intentions or resources to invest in more sophisticated systems. This means that data is available for the masses everywhere! Advancements of study with mathematics, statistics and computer sciences have led to data analysis fields such as data science, data mining and predictive analytics. All these fields of study have played a huge role in revolutionizing how companies and governments make use of their big data.
Something about crowdsourcing....
Crowdsourcing is also another trend that has changed the world of big data. Using the “power of the crowd”, companies can obtain large amounts of services from a wide variety of people – normally through the internet. Coca-Cola is an example of a company who has effectively used crowdsourcing for marketing its products successfully. Although we live in a time period that is data filled, the world is not 100% data driven. A third of business leaders fear about the accuracy of decisions made through big data. They are not yet comfortable with the idea of computers assisting with decision-making. For us to experience fully a big data revolution, businesses must start implementing big data systems into their companies. Try using big data analytics in 20% of your company’s decision-making to gradually gain confidence in the system. Once your confidence begins to grow you may increase the percentage of big data usage and watch your company expand.