The concept of ‘Big Data’ important or forgettable?

Big Data, unlike most innovative practices, has no universally accepted definition (Jin et al., 2015). For me, I like the definition that ‘Big Data’ is described as the large volume of structured and unstructured data (Sas.com, 2018).

In the macro world, Big Data is a very important aspect in the daily activities of businesses and the world overall, it is transforming the way that we work, think and live in business and lifestyles. This is not because of the amount of data but because of how this data is used, implemented and experimented on. It leads to amazing results in helping businesses to make stronger and more efficient strategies and decisions.

Why it is important?

The importance of Big Data is because it helps to predict and make decisions in the present and future. In the present world, Big Data allows for a bigger network mapped and societal information on how society is mapped. This bigger network is beneficially for governments, countries, organisations and people to perceive the present.

Government & Countries: Big Data’s impact on the world of trade has opened up doors for more international and national trades for countries and buyers and sellers.

Organisations: More connections to people allow for more customers, big data also allows for organisations to receive information faster and more efficient.

People: Big data allows for more connections with people all around the world.

The categories of big data and the 4 V’s

Big data generally falls into one of three categories; streaming data, social media data and publicly available sources (Sas.com, 2018).

Streaming data: This data is the data that is collected when we use our IT systems, it makes decisions on how the data is kept, deleted or needs further evaluation.

Social media data:The social media interactions that we are involved in our daily lives, is very interesting information. This information is used by businesses and markets to increase their sales, their products and functions.

Publicly available: This are the amounts of data that is made available through open sources. This could be from an online site or an online organisation.

4V’s of Big Data

The four V’s in Big Data are: volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. Soumendra Mohanty believes that from the four V’s we can extend the information and use it in combination with indicators such as; customer acquisition, onboarding, retention, upsell and cross-sell (Mohanty, 2018). This will achieve new innovative competitive strategies that creates more efficient decision making and operational efficiency in the workforce, business and life.

Volume: This is the value of how much data that is extracted, this could on companies, customers, suppliers, countries etc.

Velocity: The faster that the data is processed into information the more effective the outcomes will be, leading for more timely and accurate decision making.

Variety: This is the value of varied data that is received from the information. This can help with ensure a more economical based network map.

Veracity: when data is collected it does not come ready to use, veracity cleans and analyses the data to gain the right data for the specific need.

Who it is used by

I think the question that we should be asking is not who uses it but rather who does not use it, big data is the most efficient way of storing and achieving data for companies, organisations (schools, banks), government, work-environment and manufacturing.

References:

1. Jin, X., Cheng, X., W Wah, B. and Wang, Y. (2015). Significance and Challenges of Big Data Research. 1st ed. (ebook) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272946686_Significance_and_Challenges_of_Big_Data_Research (Accessed 12 Sep. 2018).

2. Hill, C., Hult, G., Wickramasekera, R., Liesch, P. and MacKenzie, K. (2017). Global business today. 4th ed. Australia: McGraw Hill Education, p.5, 7, 16, 20, 21, 60-63, 118.

3. Mohanty, S. (2018). The Four Essential V’s for a Big Data Analytics Platform - Dataconomy. (online) https://dataconomy.com/2015/06/the-four-essentials-vs-for-a-big-data-analytics-platform/ [Accessed 13 Sep. 2018].

4. Sas.com. (2018). What is Big Data and why it matters. (online) https://www.sas.com/en_au/insights/big-data/what-is-big-data.html#dmtechnical [Accessed 15 Sep. 2018].

Pictures:

1. Kh, R. (2018). 5 Innovative Ways Small Companies Can Collect Big Data. (image) https://www.smartdatacollective.com/5-innovative-ways-small-companies-can-collect-big-data/ (Accessed 18 Sep. 2018).

2. Magrani, E. (2018). [Article] We Are Big Data: New Technologies and Personal Data Management. (image) http://eduardomagrani.com/en/we-are-big-data-new-technologies-and-personal-data-management/ (Accessed 15 Sep. 2018).