You might have heard the phrase ‘Big Data’ be thrown around quite a bit over the past three to five years. And while some may think it’s just a ‘buzz word’, understanding what it is and what it can do for your business is imperative.
What Is Big Data?
Big data is pretty much what it sounds like – it is a large amount of data and information that is purposely (as well as indirectly) captured by businesses and organisations.
Most of us will have a wallet full of loyalty cards that we swipe each time we visit a particular store, and while this is a good way to increase return visits in customers – it also allows the company to collect all sorts of information about who we are, what we buy, and a multitude of other demographic data that they can use to further enhance their marketing and sales activities.
On a large scale, here’s what Netflix did with their big data (spoiler alert – they used it to create TV show House of Cards).
And as you’d assume – the data collected from these examples would be on a huge scale, massive – far larger than any excel spreadsheet could cope with. So that’s big data that requires its own special technology and infrastructure to collate, manage and analyse it.
Does my business need big data?
If your business could benefit from collecting and analyzing the data of all the internal and external actions of your organisation, then the answer is yes. Because that is what makes big data valuable – the insights it can provide into a range of business functions.
As mentioned above, and depending on what data you capture, it will provide information about almost anything you can imagine.
For example – a health provider could understand, and begin to map, the peak times for particular ailments and segment the age bracket for those most affected, meaning they could bring on expert staff to cope with the influx, and also provide education for those most at risk in their community.
How does an outsourced IT company manage my businesses big data?
It probably goes without saying that every business already captures plenty of big data without even realising it – but there is still a lot that doesn’t understand its importance and aren’t able to process it in a way that it becomes usable for the organisation.
So this is where an outsourced IT company can take the headache away for businesses that want to make sure their big data is collected and managed correctly.
With the right hardware to securely host your data, and the ability to process it, an IT company provides you with a trusted advisor to gain maximum ROI.
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This blog post is a condensed version of an article in our latest eBook. Keen on further knowledge on how to manage IT in your business?
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