Big data is all the rage at the moment; it seems as if everyone is talking about it. But what good is it? The trick is to have these data work for you optimally. Prediction is the ultimate way to improve the operating result; if you successfully predict what your target group will do, you can anticipate that and proactively adapt your offering accordingly.
The potential of big data often lies in finding connections and patterns in what may be unexpected places.
The term ‘big data’ has been around for quite some time. But are we actually talking about the same thing? Because of the ambiguity surrounding the topic, companies do not know what they should actually be doing with big data.
‘Big’ immediately gives the impression of large volumes. A great deal of data, therefore. But you can be talking about big data even when the quantities involved are not gigabytes or terabytes. Gartner defines the term as follows:
‘High-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.’
The term denotes not just large quantities of data (high volume), but also data with a high turnover ratio and in various formats, from multiple sources.
Until recently, data analysis was almost always focused on explaining the present on the basis of data from the past. A logical next step is to predict the future on the basis of data from the past and present – also referred to as predictive analytics.
Prediction is the ultimate way to improve the operating result; if you successfully predict what your target group will do, you can anticipate that and proactively adapt your offering accordingly. The potential of big data often lies in finding connections by combining internal and external data. Analytics techniques allow you to test correlations between different variables; you may figure out, for instance, that there is a relationship between the number of power outlets in a home and the annual maintenance costs. Other types of applications include fraud detection and predicting maintenance.
The Data Discovery Channel informs everyone who works with data about the developments in the fields of data science, data analysis, predictive analytics, data warehousing, Business Intelligence and more. We regularly publish short videos addressing a specific topic, clearly explained by an expert in the particular field.
In order to create value from the data, algorithms are let loose on the data. Algorithms are formulas with an extremely high number of variables which use various statistical calculations to calculate likelihoods, determine exceptions or make classifications.
Info Support contributes ideas on the strategic level on what is possible using big data: both in terms of implementation (how do you collect and analyze your data) and in terms of strategy (what information does your organization want to obtain from the systems and how do you adapt processes accordingly).
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