In this day and age where software usage and social media are the norm rather than the exception, chances are you’ve heard of the term “big data.” But do you know what it is exactly?
Lisa Arthur, a Forbes contributor, defines big data as “a collection of data from traditional and digital sources inside and outside your company that represents a source for ongoing discovery and analysis.”
For IBM, big data “comes from everywhere,” where everywhere means data sensors, photos and videos, blogs, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, purchase transaction records, GPS signals, industrial machinery, review networks, CCTV cameras, blogs and media outlets, government agencies such as the census bureau, among so many others.
For organizations to make sense of the huge amounts of data at their disposal, big data analytics tools play a crucial role.
Why bigdata analytics is here to stay
In IDG Enterprise’s 2015 big data and analytics survey, the past year alone has seen a 125% increase in the number of organizations implementing data-driven projects.
Organizations of varying scale and sizes know that big data analytics, when used to their advantage, is a game changer. Actionable insights and on-demand analytical comparisons are made available even to end users possessing little to no intricate data analysis backgrounds, enabling decision-making capabilities across every level of the organization.
With technology a constant fixture in the way people transact with businesses nowadays, via hardware and software innovations that simplify the data collection process, plus the emergence and growing adoption of the Internet of Things, big data is bound to get even bigger.
Below are a couple of examples on how bigdata and analytics can impact and revolutionize business processes:
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Customer service
Data collected by companies on their clients can be analyzed for buying behavior, purchasing frequency, and preferred products or services. This, in turn, allows businesses to provide new and existing customers with a service experience they’d be willing to recommend to their family and friends.
Customer service is the new marketing, right?
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Human resources
Consider the following quotes about employee engagement compiled by FrontStream:
- “To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.” – Doug Conant, Campbell’s Soup CEO
- “Highly engaged employees make the customer experience. Disengaged employees break it.” – Timothy R. Clark, The 5 Ways That Highly Engaged Employees are Different
Keeping track of your employees’ performances gives you better insight into what motivates them, an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, what they value the most in your company, and what else you can do to make their stay a fruitful and engaging one.
Bottom line, big data isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s not a fad and has ceased to become a mere buzzword. It’s bound to explode even more and will continue to change the way businesses are run in a very profound way.
For more information on big data, below is an infographic detailing some of the numbers you need to know about big data now and into the future.
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