Why Big data?
Why Big data?
1. Understanding and Targeting Customers
This is one of the biggest and most publicized areas of big
data use today. Here, big data is used to better understand customers and their
behaviors and preferences. Companies are keen to expand their traditional data
sets with social media data, browser logs as well as text analytics and sensor
data to get a more complete picture of their customers. The big objective, in
many cases, is to create predictive models. You might remember the example of
U.S. retailer Target, who is now able to very accurately predict when one of
their customers will expect a baby. Using big data, Telecom companies can now
better predict customer churn; Wal-Mart can predict what products will sell,
and car insurance companies understand how well their customers actually drive.
Even government election campaigns can be optimized using big data analytics.
2. Understanding and Optimizing Business Processes
Big data is also increasingly used to optimize business
processes. Retailers are able to optimize their stock based on predictions
generated from social media data, web search trends and weather forecasts. One
particular business process that is seeing a lot of big data analytics is
supply chain or delivery route optimization. Here, geographic positioning and
radio frequency identification sensors are used to track goods or delivery
vehicles and optimize routes by integrating live traffic data, etc. HR business
processes are also being improved using big data analytics. This includes the
optimization of talent acquisition – Money ball style, as well as the
measurement of company culture and staff engagement using big data tools
3. Personal Quantification and Performance Optimization
Big data is not just for companies and governments but also
for all of us individually. We can now benefit from the data generated from
wearable devices such as smart watches or smart bracelets. Take the Up band
from Jawbone as an example: the armband collects data on our calorie
consumption, activity levels, and our sleep patterns. While it gives
individuals rich insights, the real value is in analysing the collective data.
In Jawbone’s case, the company now collects 60 years’ worth of sleep data every
night. Analysing such volumes of data will bring entirely new insights that it
can feed back to individual users. The other area where we benefit from big
data analytics is finding love - online this is. Most online dating sites apply
big data tools and algorithms to find us the most appropriate matches.
4. Improving Healthcare and Public Health
The computing power of big data analytics enables us to
decode entire DNA strings in minutes and will allow us to find new cures and
better understand and predict disease patterns. Just think of what happens when
all the individual data from smart watches and wearable devices can be used to
apply it to millions of people and their various diseases. The clinical trials of the future won’t be limited by small
sample sizes but could potentially include everyone! Big data techniques are
already being used to monitor babies in a specialist premature and sick baby
unit. By recording and analyzing every heart beat and breathing pattern of
every baby, the unit was able to develop algorithms that can now predict
infections 24 hours before any physical symptoms appear. That way, the team can
intervene early and save fragile babies in an environment where every hour
counts. What’s more, big data analytics allow us to monitor and predict the
developments of epidemics and disease outbreaks. Integrating data from medical
records with social media analytics enables us to monitor flu outbreaks in
real-time, simply by listening to what people are saying, i.e. “Feeling rubbish
today - in bed with a cold”.
5. Improving Sports Performance
Most elite sports have now embraced big data analytics. We
have the IBM SlamTracker tool for tennis tournaments; we use video analytics
that track the performance of every player in a football or baseball game, and
sensor technology in sports equipment such as basket balls or golf clubs allows
us to get feedback (via smart phones and cloud servers) on our game and how to
improve it. Many elite sports teams also track athletes outside of the sporting
environment – using smart technology to track nutrition and sleep, as well as
social media conversations to monitor emotional wellbeing.
6. Improving Science and Research
Science and research is currently being transformed by the
new possibilities big data brings. Take, for example, CERN, the Swiss nuclear
physics lab with its Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most
powerful particle accelerator. Experiments to unlock the secrets of our
universe – how it started and works - generate huge amounts of data. The CERN
data center has 65,000 processors to analyze its 30 petabytes of data. However,
it uses the computing powers of thousands of computers distributed across 150
data centers worldwide to analyze the data. Such computing powers can be
leveraged to transform so many other areas of science and research.
7. Optimizing Machine and Device Performance
Big data analytics help machines and devices become smarter
and more autonomous. For example, big data tools are used to operate Google’s
self-driving car. The Toyota Prius is fitted with cameras, GPS as well as
powerful computers and sensors to safely drive on the road without the
intervention of human beings. Big data tools are also used to optimize energy
grids using data from smart meters. We can even use big data tools to optimize
the performance of computers and data warehouses.
8. Improving Security and Law Enforcement.
Big data is applied heavily in improving security and
enabling law enforcement. I am sure you are aware of the revelations that the
National Security Agency (NSA) in the U.S. uses big
data analytics to foil terrorist plots (and maybe spy on
us). Others use big data techniques to detect and prevent cyber attacks. Police
forces use big data tools to catch criminals and even predict criminal activity
and credit card companies use big data use it to detect fraudulent
transactions.
9. Improving and Optimizing Cities and Countries
Big data is used to improve many aspects of our cities and
countries. For example, it allows cities to optimize traffic flows based on
real time traffic information as well as social media and weather data. A
number of cities are currently piloting big data analytics with the aim of
turning themselves into Smart Cities, where the transport infrastructure and
utility processes are all joined up. Where a bus would wait for a delayed train
and where traffic signals predict traffic volumes and operate to minimize jams.
10. Financial Trading
My final category of big data application comes from
financial trading. High-Frequency Trading (HFT) is an area where big data finds
a lot of use today. Here, big data algorithms are used to make trading
decisions. Today, the majority of equity trading now takes place via data algorithms
that increasingly take into account signals from social media networks and news
websites to make, buy and sell decisions in split seconds.
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