Big data and its big business impacts: the game is on

Big data came into prominence a decade ago, with explosive growth in data in the new world of digital everything. A quick fact: we created roughly 2.5 quintillion data bytes a day in 2020, with almost 90% of all current data produced in the last couple of years. Combining structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data (imaging, text, videos, sensor data, etc.), big data is not just big but complex to make sense of with traditional analytics systems. This is perhaps a reason that 60% to 70% of all data within organizations has never been tapped for business insights (another quick fact). Advanced AI solutions and new techniques, however, have made it possible to uncover patterns hidden in the massive volumes of data companies have been collecting for years. And big data has started talking, and making big business impacts too.

As all kinds of companies are trying to ride the big data wave for various business benefits, big data adoption doesn’t come easy. This is because just like anything else with big data, challenges are big as well, from poor data quality to silos, lack of coordination, and business misalignment. There are a few success stories, though. Dive in.

With heightened customer expectations, the rise in online shopping and returns, and Amazon being a major competitor almost to everyone, increasingly more retailers are relying on big data analytics to capture a business impact. Big data/AI technologies in retail bring leading companies a lot of business benefits, including the ability to win customers with personal recommendations, forecast demand and revenue, improve day-to-day operations, and prevent fraud.

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself,” — Peter Drucker, a celebrated management consultant and educator. Marketing and sales teams are leading the way in big data analytics, making a great business impact with big data. The three types of data they are gathering — customer, financial, and operational data — enable a more accurate analysis of target audiences, profitability, and business processes.

Big data analytics is taking healthcare by storm, helping predict epidemics, cut down treatment costs, avoid preventable conditions, and enhance the overall quality of our lives. Operational improvements are also on the list of sought-after big data business benefits. Insights are flowing in from multiple sources that include clinical data, electronic patient records, payer records, patient portals, results of medical examinations, wearables, smartphones, genetic databases, and other.

The increasing use of data is named among the major trends that will be shaping the banking sector in the next decade. For banks and other financial institutions, the impact of big data on business centers around new levels of security and customer loyalty driven by personalized offerings.

Big data and AI solutions are revolutionizing education, making it possible to analyze the student’s performance and behavior in real time, improve teaching approaches, and reinvigorate entire education systems.

Many companies across industries have woken up to big data technologies and business impacts they are delivering. The game is on, and more is coming. According to Wikibon, the big data analytics market should total $103 billion by 2023. Meanwhile, global spending on big data, reported at $180 billion in 2019, is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.2% between 2020 and 2022. This means competition will get bigger. Don’t hesitate, go big too.