The Big Data Boom, A New Competitive Advantage In Evolving Technology Today

Harnessing the power of huge data and using data analytics tools as well as remote monitoring has become a budgetary priority for operators and owners due to the added efficiencies it can offer.

THE NEW BIG THING TODAY

A lot of observers believe that data analytics is the new, new thing that would see some organizations leapfrog over others to be the best in class. Nowadays, data is woven into each and every function and sector in the worldwide economy, and like other relevant factors of production, like human capital and hard assets, most modern economic activity just could not take place without them. Using large pools of data that could be brought together and analyzed to discern patterns as well as make better decisions would be the basic building blocks of growth and competition for individual organizations, boosting productivity as well as considerable value for the economy of the world through minimizing waste as well as boosting the quality of services and products.

BIG DATA IS TRANSFORMING LIVES

In the history of previous IT innovation and investments, data analytics could have a similar power, namely the ability of transforming lives. The same preconditions that enabled past IT-enabled innovation waves to power productivity, like technology and innovations followed by the adoption of complementary management innovations are in place for huge data. All organizations need to take the system and its potential to build value seriously if they want to be on the competitive edge.

THE NEW COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
The use of huge data is becoming an integral way for leading companies to outdo their peers. In most industries, new entrants and established competitors alike leverage data driven strategies for innovation, competition and capturing value. The services of big data analytics companies these days are very in demand. In the healthcare industry, data pioneers analyze the health results of pharmaceuticals when they were prescribed widely and discover risks and benefits that were not evident during more limited clinical trials. Other early data analytics adopters use data from embedded sensors in products, from toys to industrial goods to find out how the products are used actually in the real world. The knowledge then informs the making of new service offerings as well as future products design.

Data analytics help create a new growth of opportunities and completely new categories of organizations, like those that analyze and aggregate industry data. Most of these would be companies that sit in the middle of big information flows in which data regarding services and products, suppliers and buyers, consumer preferences and intent could be captured and analyzed. Forward-thinking leaders across industries must aggressively build their large data capabilities.

WAYS OF LEVERAGING BIG DATA

  1. As companies make and store more transactional data in digital form, they could gather more detailed and accurate information on performance on everything, from inventories to sick days and thus boost performance and expose variability. Some leading organizations in fact are using their ability of collecting and analyzing huge data to perform controlled experiments for better management decisions.

  2. Large data enables the ever-narrower segmentation of customers, and thus much more precisely tailored services and products.

  3. Unlocks significant value by making transparent information. There’s still a considerable amount of information not yet captured in digital form, like that on paper. Twenty-five percent of the effort in some knowledge worker workgroups consists of looking for data and transferring them to another location. The effort represents a considerable inefficiency source.

  4. Sophisticated analytics could boost decision making. Furthermore, it could also substantially minimize risks as well as unearth valuable insights that otherwise would remain hidden.

  5. Could help develop the next generation of services and products. Data analytics could be used in developing the next generation apps and services. Manufacturers for instance use data obtained from embedded sensors in products to build innovative after-sales services, like proactive maintenance to avoid new products failure.

VALUED CREATED BY USING DATA ANALYTICS

If the healthcare system in the United States were to use large data effectively and creatively to drive quality and efficiency, the sector could make more than $300 billion every year. Two-thirds of that will be an eight percent reduction in the healthcare expenses in the country. In Europe’s developed economies, government admins could build more than 100 billion pounds in operational efficiency enhancements along by using huge data.
It is not only organizations and companies that stand to gain from the value that data analytics could create. Consumers as well could reap highly considerable benefits. For example, the users of services enabled through a personal-location data could capture $600 billion consumer surplus.

WHY BIG DATA IS SO POPULAR NOW

A lot of research that deals with data analytics is appearing today. Many startups have begun offering to extract value from data and offer valuable insights. Methods that allow processing data automatically like statistical ones, such as classification, regression, clustering surprisingly have been known for decades. So why now? The explanations for the boom of this trend can be identified.
  1. Technological progress. Progress in technology resulted in the rapid development of computers, and computing power has considerably grown. Computing power that was previously only accessible to big organizations is becoming available to a bigger market. Also, the progress resulted in the price drop of hardware.

  2. Data accessibility. Fast progress is made and at present, one could gather data from different sources. It’s relatively easy to install sensors in all types of devices. Truly, data could be collected from toasters and fridges, not to mention phones and cars. Businesses have realized that data could be used to predict the needs of customers accurately that subsequently could boost profits remarkably.

  3.  Infrastructure development. The infrastructure for big data analysis is developing fast. Software programs and different libraries within various programming languages are getting more accessible for all those who want to explore. 

Companies today should unleash avenues to new competitiveness and higher efficiency that would enable better services with big data analytics.