What makes Big Data so useful to many companies is the fact that it provides answers to many questions that companies did not even know they had. In other words, it provides a benchmark. With such a large amount of information, data can be molded or tested in any way the company deems appropriate. In doing so, organizations are able to identify problems in a more understandable way.
Collecting large amounts of data and finding trends within the data allows companies to move much faster, smoothly and efficiently. It also allows them to eliminate problem areas before problems end up with their benefits or reputation.
Big Data analysis helps organizations leverage their data and use it to identify new opportunities. That, in turn, leads to smarter business moves, more efficient operations, higher profits and happier customers. The most successful companies with Big Data get value in the following ways:
- Cost reduction. Large data technologies, such as Hadoop and cloud-based analysis, provide significant cost advantages when it comes to storing large amounts of data, as well as identifying more efficient ways of doing business.
- Faster, better decision-making. With Hadoop’s speed and memory analytics, combined with the ability to analyze new data sources, companies can analyze information immediately and make decisions based on what they have learned.
- New products and services. With the ability to measure customer needs and satisfaction through analysis comes the power to give customers what they want. With Big Data analytics, more companies are creating new products to meet the needs of customers.
For example:
- Tourism: Keeping customers happy is key to the tourism industry, but customer satisfaction can be difficult to measure, especially in a timely manner. Resorts and casinos, for example, only have a small chance to turn around a bad customer experience. Big Data analysis gives these companies the ability to collect customer data, apply analysis and immediately identify potential problems before it is too late.
- Health Care: Big Data appears in large numbers in the healthcare industry. Patient records, health plans, insurance information, and other types of information can be difficult to manage, but they are full of key information once the analytics are applied. That’s why data analysis technology is so important to health care. By analyzing large amounts of information – both structured and unstructured – quickly, diagnoses or treatment options can be provided almost immediately.
- Administration: Management faces a great challenge: maintaining quality and productivity with tight budgets. This is particularly problematic with respect to justice. Technology streamlines operations while giving management a more holistic view of activity.
- Retail: Customer service has evolved in recent years as smarter shoppers expect retailers to understand exactly what they need, when they need it. Big Data helps retailers meet those demands. Armed with endless amounts of customer loyalty program data, purchasing habits and other sources, retailers not only have a deep understanding of their customers, they can also predict trends, recommend new products and increase profitability.
- Manufacturing companies: These deploy sensors in their products to receive telemetry data. This is sometimes used to provide communications, security and navigation services. This telemetry also reveals usage patterns, failure rates, and other product improvement opportunities that can reduce development and assembly costs.
- Advertising: The proliferation of smartphones and other GPS devices gives advertisers the opportunity to reach out to consumers when they are near a store, cafeteria or restaurant. This opens new revenue for service providers and offers many companies the opportunity to get new prospects.
