Ever wondered why there is such a hype around Big Data? Is it really that important? If yes, then why? And, should you consider mastering Big Data to make a career in it? Well, if these questions are on your mind and you are looking to understand Big Data then, you are at the right place.
So, to start off, let us understand what is Big Data? Essentially, any data that is too big to process for traditional database tools like excel and DBMS can be called as Big Data. But, that is not it. Organizations have been leveraging data analytics since decades. Traditionally, basic analytics were used to derive insights on customers and use it to plan future operations of an organization. With the introduction of Big Data tools speed and efficiency of data processing came into the picture. Now, businesses can use the data and identify information for quick decision making and bring about changes in the development and operational phases. As digitization is in full swing, more data is being generated from an ever-expanding range of sources. This means that businesses can drill down and find out anything about their customers and drive their business.
So, what exactly qualifies as Big Data? What makes Big Data, big? The five Vs of Big Data will help you understand this better.
The 5 Vs of Big Data:
To make things clear, the IT industry has qualified and quantified Big Data, and come up with what we call the 5 big Vs of Big Data:
Volume:
Volume is simply the amount of data out there. Of course, data is growing day by day at a very fast pace. The size of data generated by humans, machines and their interactions on social media itself is massive. Studies show that by 2020, 40 Zettabytes of data will be generated, which is an increase of 300 times from 2005.
Velocity:
Velocity, just like the physics definition of the word, is the pace at which data gets generated from different sources every day, every minute, every second. This flow of data is massive and continuous. There are 1.03 billion Daily Active Users (Facebook DAU) on mobile platforms as we speak, and it is increasing by over 22% year-over-year.
Variety:
As there are multiple sources that generate data, the type of data each of them generates are different in nature. It can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured. During earlier days, we used to retrieve data from excel and databases, but today data is flowing from images, audio, video, sensors, among others. Hence, this variety of unstructured data creates problems in capturing, storing, mining and analyzing the data
Veracity:
This one is simple. Veracity refers to the data in doubt or uncertainty of data available due to data inconsistency and incompleteness. Big data is data that comes with these inconsistencies.
Value:
What good is data unless we can turn it into value for business? Value is simply the starting point for analytics that turns data into useful business insights.
Are you still wondering why learn Big Data? Let’s take a look at some of the real-world applications of Big Data and Hadoop.
Real-life use-cases of Big Data:
When Lenovo, a leading technology-based company, was closing in on a final design for its new line of keyboards, the company’s Analytics unit stumbled on to something big. They discovered a significant online community who passionately praised the current design. This helped Lenovo unearth the sentiment that they did not even know existed. This also helped in making the right changes to the design of the keyboard and maintain its fan base.
In another example, look at Netflix. The movie/TV show streaming platform has been around since times before ‘Big Data’ even existed. Netflix has a ginormous collection of data regarding the viewing habits of customers in the west as well as overseas. They use this data to derive insights on the kind of content that is appreciated by people around the world. This, helps them in commissioning new TV shows and movies that they know will work. Leveraging the Big Data wave has helped Netflix to flourish and expand its base in unknown territories.
Similarly, Amazon, world’s leading E-commerce website uses its customer’s past activities and behavior on the website to suggest recommendations. This helped Amazon target the right customers with the right kind of products. It went a long way in improving the shopping experience for its customers and got Amazon much closer to them.
To sum it up, Big Data is essential for any organization looking to draw insights about its customers and using it to make quick and agile decisions that produce the desired result. In today’s market, any organization looking to break the barrier and withstand the tough competition needs to leverage this Big Data wave. In a research conducted by IIA Director of Research Tom Davenport where around 50 business heads who were using Big Data were interviewed, he found that the main plus-point of using Big Data is:
- Faster, better decision making
- New products and services
- Cost reduction.
With more and more organizations using Big Data to derive business insights, it is one of the hottest skills to learn in the job market today. Researchers estimate that over $57 Billion was invested in Big Data in 2017 alone and investments are expected to grow at a CAGR of around 10% over the next three years. With a huge dearth of highly skilled professionals in this field, now is perhaps the best time to learn Big Data and make a career in it. Get started today and learn Big Data here.
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