Role of Big Data Analytics in Modern Businesses

In not-so-distant past, organizations used to overlook the importance of using analytics for business operations, let alone big data. Hefty budgets and lack of qualified and skilled professionals were two of the major reasons why companies used to keep away from data analytics. However, as the field of technology has evolved and everything is going digital in recent times, data is being gathered from almost all types of sources imaginable.

Terabytes and Petabytes of data are getting poured in various formats from different devices and sources including operational and transactional systems, mobile and web media and customer service points, among other sources. The biggest problem of such large volume of data, or Big Data to be precise, is storage and without utilizing the gathered data properly, collecting and saving the data is just a waste of resources. A few years ago when technology wasn’t so advanced, storing and processing data was extremely tricky and demanding task.

Big Data Analytics: The Taming of Big Data

Big data, as the name implies, is very big and processing such huge data sets using the traditional practices and systems to analyze it is neither practical nor feasible. With the beginning of the digital age way back in 2002, the trend of digital data explosion started and it is getting bigger and more complex with time. Given the velocity, variety, and volume at which the digital data is being generated, it has become way more difficult and complicated for companies to store, access and compute such large volumes of data for accurate and timely decision-making. In order to compute and analyze such huge sets of data high-speed and high-performance analytics is needed. This is where big data analytics comes into focus. In layman’s terms, Big Data analytics can be defined as a dedicated process to analyze data to uncover the relevant features which helps in better and effective decision-making.

However, before moving into the world of big data, global business organizations need to learn and understand the feasibility and the ability to make the most of it. Just in case, if a business has the needed resources and technologies to work on big data, then they should put their best foot forward to harness the power of big data analytics to reap maximum benefits.

The ‘BIG’ Dominance of Big Data Analytics

Big Data’s enormity is not only restricted to the velocity and volume; rather it also depends on the variety, variability and complexity of the generated data. Hence, it is quite obvious that businesses need more than just a few tricks and upgrades to realize the potential of big data. However, with the right set of tools and techniques, businesses can utilize big data to the fullest and gain favorable outcomes.

What is the ‘BIG’ deal about Big Data Analytics?

Well, the big deal is the way businesses use it to make well-informed decisions, defend market shares along with boosting the overall efficiency and performance while providing highly innovative and better customer service. Below given are some major point that can help businesses of all sizes and types to grow and succeed by using big data analytics:

• Better Data Analysis for Better Performance and Efficiency: By analyzing big data, one can figure out the current efficiency and performance of his business. Eventually, with the results obtained through such detailed analysis, businesses can implement necessary changes, and help their workforce to be more effective.
• Understand the Latest Market Trends and Competitor Strategies: Analysis of Big Data goes a long way in helping businesses to get a competitive edge in today’s challenging world. A comprehensive range of the latest market trends along with the strategies used by their competitors can be understood by thorough big data analytics. By doing so, one can create new and unique strategies to outperform the competitors and stay ahead in the race.
• Valuable Insights to Minimize Risks: Poor or wrong decision making is undoubtedly the worst thing that can hinder the growth of a company. However, by effectively using big data, businesses significantly minimize the chances of risks by gaining valuable insights through comprehensive data analysis.
• The innovation of New Services and Products: Big data analytics goes a lot longer in helping businesses to understand better what customers are exactly looking for and render highly effective after-sales services to them. Plus, they can use the outcome to innovate and design new products that can meet and exceed customers’ desires.

Well, the bottom line is – big data analytics is gradually becoming a fundamental part of modern business practices. Providentially, technologies like cloud computing, web-based data analytics, and visualization platforms are empowering even small and mid-sized firms to extract invaluable insights from their data collection and fuel their business growth.