What is Big Data Analytics?
Growing your business with valuable data insights
Growing your business with valuable data insights
Big data analytics is big news, especially when it comes to growing your business. It is gaining fast adoption in certain circles as more and more decision makers realise that their businesses data can hold a wealth of untapped benefits.
The opportunities to improve a business through the effective use of big data analytics is what makes utilising it in custom developments so appealing to us as database developers. After all, it is our job to come up with clever, creative solutions to ensure that your databases are being used in the most efficient way possible. The use of big data analytics has definitely achieved this for our clients. It is no surprise to us that big data analytics is gaining in momentum.
The big data analytics market grew 14% last year, and 79% of enterprise executives agree that companies who don’t embrace big data will lose their competitive advantage - Forbes
It seems apparent that the trend for big data analytics is here to stay, and that it will become ever more important for businesses to familiarise themselves with this phenomenon. Read on to learn what big data analytics is, and how it could work for your business.
You may be surprised to learn that big data is not as complicated as it first seems. In the simplest terms, ‘big data’ refers to information stored digitally in what we call the ‘3 Vs’ - high volume, velocity and variety.
Big data analytics is the process of using software to uncover useful insights such as trends, patterns and correlations in these large stores of data.
Analysing data isn’t anything new, it has been around for decades in the form of business intelligence and data mining software, however, in recent years it has come on leaps and bounds. Big data analytics handles much larger data volumes, at a quicker speed, and with more complex algorithm capabilities.
Simple enough! And to make things even easier, big data analytics is often split into four categories, each with varying degrees of complexity. These can be used to help your chosen database developers create a system that provides the most benefits to your business.
Descriptive analytics - this tells you what has happened. It creates simple reports that show what occurred at a particular point in time or over a period of time.
Diagnostic analytics - this explains why something happened. It gives you the opportunity to delve a little deeper and discover the root causes of your tracked situations.
Predictive analytics - this tells you what might happen. It is one of the most popular types of big data analytics (and one that we think is particularly clever!). It uses sophisticated algorithms to forecast what could happen in the future.
Prescriptive analytics - this tells you what to do in order to achieve a desired result. There are very few examples of this type of solution currently in the marketplace, but watch this space!
Let’s explore the benefits that big data analytics could bring to your business.
In the MIT report ‘Analytics as a Source of Business Innovation’, it was discovered that 57% of the businesses surveyed said that their use of analytics was helping them achieve a competitive advantage.
It is true that across all industries, using data cleverly can give you leverage over your competitors. In addition to the sheer scale of big data, the high frequency of the data allows users to test theories in near real-time, and to a level never before possible.
By using predictive analytics, you have the once-impossible opportunity to immediately estimate metrics such as consumer confidence. In the not too distant past, this was only possible retrospectively. Predictive analytics allows you to forecast with power, and gain a real competitive advantage.
Obviously, creating the appropriate systems and processes to effectively use big data analytics is an investment. It goes without saying that you will need to employ the services of an expert database developer to create a system that will work for your business. However, despite the initial setup costs, the ‘Big Data Executive Survey’ conducted by NewVantage Partners found that 49.2% of companies surveyed had successfully decreased expenses as a result of a big data project.
Big data costs money. Big analytics makes money - Forbes
A factor that plays a large part in your potential ROI (return on investment) in big data analytics is its predictive nature. You have the opportunity to detect potential costs that would once have surprised you before they happen, alongside detecting areas with untapped profit-making potential.
If you’d like to discuss how big data analytics could increase your businesses profits, our team of friendly, expert database developers would love to chat. Why not challenge us today?
Big data analytics can also give you the opportunity to find out who is saying what about your business. Clever business owners will be monitoring this and will be able to use the gathered feedback to make improvements to their brand image, particularly online. It is no secret that a positive brand or company reputation can lead to loyal customers, and those all-important 5-star reviews.
86% of consumers read online reviews before using a local business - Bright Local
Utilising this data also provides important insights such as trends in product sales or service enquiries. This can allow your business to adapt to the current market environment and give your customers exactly what they want when they require it.
As you may be able to tell, we are big fans of the power of data! So if we’ve managed to convince you about the benefits of big data analytics for your business, we’d love to discuss it with you further. Our clever database developers are always up for discussing all things data.
Likewise, if you’d simply like to learn more and explore it as a potential option, why not arrange to pop in for a chat, or give us a call? You can get in touch here >>.
To discover more of our data offerings, click here>>.
AccessAble is an online resource providing Detailed Access Guides all about a venue's access facilities ahead of their visit. The company's suite of applications used by surveyors all over the UK needed ongoing software support, data management and development as part of their rebrand and new website.
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