Big data is probably a term you’ve heard if you’ve been keeping an ear to the ground of business. For the past couple of years it seems to have been everyone’s favorite buzzword. But buzzword can be a pretty misleading term sometimes. Sure, it refers to the hot words of the moment, the words of great relevance in modern business. But it also carries some pejorative connotations. When people think of buzzwords, they often think about terms that don’t really mean anything. Even though they sound great and important, they’re really just there to grab attention.
Big data doesn’t not fit that description.
What kind of data are we talking about here?
It’s important to understand what we mean when we talk about big data in this sort of context. We’re talking about data that comes in huge amounts and can be read by computers. The kind of data this includes is as follows.
There’s personal data, which is pretty self-explanatory. This covers information about your demographic, your location, as well as your contact information. This is the kind of stuff that Facebook and phone companies are under all sorts of pressure to protect. Then there’s transactional data, which is the sort of data that requires an action to generate. When you click on an advert, or buy something online, or even visit a web site, transactional data is collected.
Web data is the stuff that’s generated by the front end of any web page. This is the external data, as opposed to the internal data that defined the last two types. Basically, this is the stuff that the user actually sees – prices, sports scores, statistics, etc.
How do I get to grips with all this?
I’d like to think that my explanation of those data types was fairly simple. But, as you can probably tell, my explanations were hardly exhaustive. How do you even get any of this data, for example? How can you tell useful data apart from trash? What kind of laws are in place to protect consumers and businesses? What kind of compliance steps do I need to take?
While it’s not as complex as some make it out to be, it is very involved. There’s a wealth of reading material out there, both online and in book format, that can help you understand it more. You may even want to look into big data training for yourself and your employees.
Is it really that important?
Oh yes. Take another look at the descriptions of the different data types I listed up there. If you think about it, this sort of data is essential to a business. It’s particularly important if you’re a startup – after all, your competition is going to be fierce, and they’re using this data!
It’s probably easiest to see the benefits of personal data. After all, demographical information has always been required to make the best business decisions. The other two are a bit more vague. Transactional data will tell you how users act. What kind of links are they clicking on? What kind of purchases do they make, and when? Web data is important because you can’t generate that sort of information yourself. It helps you monitor your competitors – which, in turn, helps you track potential customers.
Big data is no useless buzzword. It’s exactly what you need to be getting involved in.
This article was provided by ellie jo