Twenty-first century technological innovation has brought with it not only greater convenience, but also access to limitless amounts of information collected and collated in millions of different formats. By being able to consolidate it all, the age of Big Data has arrived thereby allowing its users to monitor and predict, to manage and succeed.
Corporate usage of big data is growing rapidly everyday due to breakthroughs in recent technology. Think of the new Apple Watch. Not only can it tell the time, but companies like Apple are now able to accurately collect and analyze more data that couldn’t be collected with a standard smartphone. This would allow a company like Apple to have a huge competitive advantage and use big data to lead to greater innovative products in the future.
Something else we can look forward to is the ever increasing amount of mobile internet users. In 2015 mobile internet users have finally exceeded computer internet users since the internet era began. We can only expect this number to increase for the coming years. Our mobile phones are now capable of collecting a significantly wider variety of information about ourselves - far more than any computer. This means companies will be able to learn and use Big Data to identify social trends and patterns.
How "Prescriptive Analytics" interested you?
Prescriptive analytics is a concept that has had recent advancements due to the discovery of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The idea is still at its early stages; however, the potential should not be ignored. Systems like artificial intelligence and machine learning will go through big data to make decisions determining the best possible outcome. Google's self-driving car is an excellent example of how prescriptive analytics could be used in the future. Vehicles would be able to gather data that is relevant to them and make decisions on things like: picking the best possible route, judging when to accelerate and deciding when to make the turn. Not only is there Google’s self-driving car but industries like oil production, healthcare and transportation logistics are all beginning to use prescriptive analytics to give them the upper hand.
The future for Big Data has endless possibilities for companies, governments and the general public. The opportunities and benefits provided to us are seemingly endless and should be something that excites us as we move forward and commence 2016. Be the first to embrace the future of decision-making and trend setting. Big Data is now.