Utilizing the benefits of big data analytics

Featured article by Adam Jackson, Independent Technology Author

A few years ago, hardly anyone outside academic and tech circles had heard of big data. Now the term is everywhere. In fact, the data itself has long been all around us, much of it generated incidentally in the course of doing business. What’s new is the awareness of its value and the ability to extract that value – in terms of both tools and processing power. If you want to start making effective use of big data in your business, what are the most important things you need to do?

Develop your team

Big data isn’t something that can be tackled as a side project for your business – in order to give you a real advantage, it needs to be integrated at every level. This means that technical skills are becoming increasingly important and anybody working in a decision-making role will need to have a decent understanding of statistics. Online courses are a good, practical way to provide training such as this without having to sacrifice too many work hours.

Have a dedicated data center

Most businesses integrating big data for the first time will need to significantly expand their server capacity. It’s also important to make sure that stored data is protected from theft and accidental damage. Finding a company that can build you a bespoke comms room – and, ideally, provide ongoing maintenance for it – makes things much easier. If space inside your premises is limited, it’s often possible to build these on adjoining land.

Introduce machine learning

When you’re dealing with seriously big data, it becomes impossible for humans to sort all the potentially useful patterns it contains. Traditional computer processing techniques can only do this very slowly and laboriously, but machine learning makes it possible for your computers to build upon their discoveries at each stage and produce much more useful results.

Sharpen up your own skills

If you’re leading a company working with big data, or hold a senior managerial role, you can no longer afford to leave everything to the tech team. You’ll need to be able to conceptualize big data yourself, to understand how it works and be able to visualize it, in order to make good decisions. It’s well worth making a serious investment in your education with this in mind. If you already have a degree in a math or science related subject, you’ll find some great university conversion courses available.

Ask the right questions

Ultimately, all the data analysis skills in the world won’t help you if you don’t know how to ask the right questions. What do you want to extract from your data? What kinds of information are useful – with practical applications in the real world – and what is merely an intriguing distraction? You will need to have clear objectives and be disciplined about how you approach them.

Adapting your business practices to make use of big data is a significant challenge but as more and more companies do it, the risks involved in getting left behind become significant. If you are prepared to make the effort to adjust properly, the rewards can be considerable – so why delay?

About the Author

Adam brings to the table 15 years’ experience in the IT industry and writes cutting-edge articles on the latest business technology trends. Specialising in Data and Analytics and Cloud Computing, he has firmly crystallised his reputation as an industry expert and major know-it-all.