The world of business intelligence is, of course, governed by data. It is the quality and the volume of data, as well as the ability to analyze and make use of it, that makes or breaks the success of a business intelligence model. A term that has been around for a while but is now becoming more “trendy” is big data. What is, then, big data, and how does it differ from data as we know it?
In essence, big data is a very descriptive term - it refers to enormous amounts of data coming in from various sources. Modern technology makes it possible to collect vast amounts of information every day from a variety of sources in a variety of formats. IBM, for example, estimates that something to the tune of two and a half exabytes of data (that’s 2.5 billion gigabytes) is created every single day. As a result, over 90 per cent of all data available today has been created in the past two years. How does one analyze or even make sense in a general way of this scope of data? This is where big data analysis comes in.
Is big data analysis feasible?
Expecting that all of the 2.5 billion gigabytes of data would be put to good use is, of course, overly optimistic. Vast amounts of big data remain collected and stored but not analyzed, and yet the power of modern information technology in business intelligence analysis is growing day by day.
Currently, alphanumeric data and still images present the bulk of information that can be subjected to continuous business intelligence work. Videos and audio files remain outside of the scope of most projects, but the work is ongoing to bring these large parts of the available data into the sphere of big data analysis that can be automated at least to a certain extent so as to make human analysis and decision making possible.
How can big data analysis be useful?
Working with a limited data scope, you can have clean and clear results that pertain to a particular situation at a given moment. Imagine what kind of business intelligence you would be able to gather if you had both longitudinal and depth magnification of the amount of big data you have - the results and accuracy of your analysis would go far beyond the particular moment and into greater generalizability and application.
Market predictions, human capital movement management, financial forecasts, and customer attitude analysis would all be put on a completely new level. How does one even start to do all of this? By constructing a customized big data collection and analysis framework that would deal with the information that will actually be useful and insightful for your individual circumstances and needs. We invite you to contact our expert team at Thoransoft to discuss how big data can move your business or organization forward. Call us today to start on the journey!