What Can Big Data Do for Businesses?
Here’s a question that comes up regularly “what can Big Data do for businesses?” Is it useful in all sectors and for all types of businesses?
What is Big Data?
Even if there is no universal definition to describe Big Data here are the points that characterize it.
With the rise of the Internet, the digital transformation of our society and the explosion of digital data generated and collected, statisticians and researchers have had to find new tools to analyze and understand this world. How to analyze, search, share, store or represent such amounts of information?
It was in 1997, within the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) that would appear for the first time the term Big Data.
These terms refer to huge sets of data that cannot be “worked on” with conventional database management or information management tools. For information, currently in the world, 2.5 trillion bytes of data are produced every day from all sources (emails, transactions, publications, geolocation …).
The main uses of massive data
All know (or almost) your customers and in real time. Marketing is probably the first sector to use Big Data to map consumers and analyze their behaviour in order to sell products more efficiently.
The interconnection to social networks, websites and online advertising networks via cookies makes it possible to obtain very precise information on its customers up to the personal level and in real time.
This allows, for example, displaying targeted advertisements, to make recommendations. Amazon is a master in this evaluation and delivers web pages tailored and unique to each of its customers. Success is at the rendezvous!
Innovation and improvement of products and services in real time
In the past, product design was blind, only when designed could they be presented and discussed in consumer panels. If the product was not considered satisfactory, it was necessary to start from scratch, the company was weakened.
Big Data puts an end to this “blindness”. The analysis of social networks, blogs and websites about a product or service makes it possible to measure the reception of a product in the positive as the negative in real time and to make the necessary corrections quickly.
For online services, massive tests or simulations can be carried out on targeted and analyzed panels in order to provide decisive improvements very quickly.
In the real world and in “hard” manufactured products can be equipped with many sensors that will provide information on the use, difficulties encountered and thus improve in near real time cars, tools … via a simple update.
Evaluate the risks for a company.
Whether in a customer/supplier relationship or for the insurance industry, analysis and risk determination is very important. Big Data makes it possible to analyze and categorize risks for a given customer or supplier.
The aggregation of data from as many sources as possible on the longest possible history would for example allow an insurance to offer a contract adapted financially to the profile of its client.
In other cases, the risk profile of a supplier or customer will provide valuable decision support for an organization making choices.
Real-time adaptation and customization of services and online commerce
In the context of e-commerce, knowing in real time the status of competing offers can adapt its own accordingly and greatly improve its conversion rates.
Imagine, your flagship product is also distributed by your main competitor who is launching a promotion, your watch system detects this offer and adapts your offer automatically within the limits you have set. You stay competitive and your conversion rate is kept to a minimum…
Algorithms can in many cases imaginable react in real time to markets and competitors and adjust prices according to scenarios. This strategy, applied, is currently resulting in an increase in profits.
Digital transformation, cloud computing and Big Data are the weapons of today
Whether in the health and science sector, in the quest for new opportunities, in the organization of your business and its processes, Big Data will be more and more important in the success of companies. Training of teams in these information technologies becomes a priority.
Each company has different needs, depending on its size, its sector; this requires a different Big Data approach. There are no outsiders, from very small businesses to large groups; Big Data can be the key to success.
