The term “big data” has become one of those tech buzzwords that people seem to love. But what exactly is “big data” – and more importantly, how do you put it to work for you?
This infographic, from Clear Ci, explores some of the best places to harvest data today, including social media posts, transaction records, Google search queries, digital pictures and video, and even smartphone GPS readings. That’s a lot of data – in fact, there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data being created every single day; if that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is! Just four years ago, Google processed 20 petabytes daily; now that’s the collection data of a single Google Street View car.
Investing in data collection technology may not be cheap, but missing out may have an even heftier price tag. 63% of companies have no idea what poor quality data is costing them – and it turns out, the collective answer is $600 billion annually in the US being paid out to manage bad data. 93% of executives correctly believe they are losing revenue opportunities by not leveraging available data, and 39% say that data is collected too infrequently or too slowly. It should come as no surprise, then, that 97% of executives say that their organizations must optimize information management within two years.
Of course, there has been a lot of adaptation. 73% of companies have already leveraged data to some extent to increase revenue, and 84% of executives report that using data helps them make better decisions.
There are a few tricks you should know to best take advantage of big data. First, make sure to be aware of and use data collection and monitoring technology. It’s almost impossible to swim in the sea of big data without a firm grasp on data management technology. Furthermore, with the volume of business data doubling every 1.2 years, pick and choose only the data that is most relevant to your interests, and collect it at the time it matters most. No matter how much computational power available to you, you only have so much mental capacity to figure out what to do about it.