The term big data refers to the large volume of data both structured and unstructured data. It is so large and complex that it’s difficult and next to impossible to process using traditional data techniques.
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3Vs or Characteristics of big data are:
- Volume It is related to how data is stored. Organizations collect a huge amount of data from various sources such as social media, business transactions, videos, etc. Storage of data was a problem in past but cheaper storage platforms such as data warehouses, data lakes and Hadoop have made it easier.
- Velocity It stands for real-time data. The rate/speed at which data is generated. Data dealt in real-time must be processed immediately.
- Variety It refers to data in all types of format such as traditional databases, text, audio, video, email, etc.
When it comes to big data, there are two additional dimensions:
1.Variability data is generated in huge amount and its flow is unpredictable, often changing and varying greatly. Business needs to know what is a current fashion and about the changing market, needs and preferences of people.
2.Veracity refers to the quality of data. Since data come from various sources, sometimes data have no veracity that is data is inconsistent, incomplete.
Importance of big data in business
Companies process big data to extract useful information from it and eventually use this information for making money and decision-making. Companies use big data accumulated in their computers to improve their operations, provide better customer insight and customer service, make personalized marketing campaigns according to specific customer needs and preferences and, thereby, increase profitability.
Businesses that use big data hold a competitive advantage over those competitors who don’t to make faster and informed business decisions, provided data is used effectively. Utilizing big data will enable companies to become more customer-centric, help in improving marketing strategies and become more responsive to customer needs and preferences.
Let’s understand why big data is important for the business.
- Understand market conditions Analyzing big data helps to understand current market conditions. For example, by analyzing customer’s purchasing pattern, the company can find out which product records high sales and which product is least sold, and in the future, the company can improve and produce products accordingly. And, also stay ahead of its competitors.
- Understand customers better By utilizing big data analytics, companies can understand its customers better. It will help to predict the needs of its customers in advance and provide them with better products and services.
- By using big data tools, companies can reduce customer complaints by acting promptly as these tools automatically detect negative comments on social media.
- Cost-saving In the beginning phase, the implementation of big data tools might be expensive but will eventually save a lot of money. Big data tools will help to reduce IT staff as these are real-time systems and hence these resources can be invested somewhere else. Also, big data technologies help in easy storage of a large amount of data. Since big data technologies have reduced the risk of inaccurate data, data that you will store will be accurate.
- Improve online reputation Big data tools are a must-have if you want to monitor and improve the online presence of your business. Big data tools can do sentiment analysis and let you know what people are saying about your business and you can readily react to it by taking it as a feedback and in future serve better by improving your products and services.?