Think about how important the internet has become to modern day society -- Big data will one day reach the same significance. Big data is a term to describe the exponential growth and abundance of data. Why is this important you may ask, because more data leads to more accurate analyses, more accurate analyses leads to better strategic decision making, and better strategic decision making then leads to more efficient operations, cost reduction and even reduces the risk of failure.
Industry analyst and influential IT figure, Doug Laney, in 2001 created what is now the accepted definition of big data as the three V’s of big data: volume, velocity and variety.
There are a variety of factors that add to the growth in data volume. Transaction-based data or online shopping, sensor and machine-to-machine data, data from social media accounts, and much more. Ever since data storage has become a priority, there has been a push to make the related technology smaller and more efficient.
For example think about how much MP3 players have changed in the past 10 to 15 years. The first commercial MP3 players were enormous and could only hold a few songs at a time, now we have thin, light-weight smartphones that can store photos, contacts, apps, and hundreds of songs on. Imagine how this is technology can be applied to Big Data. With the capabilities to store tons of data in a small amount of space the issue we now face is being able to then locate relevant data and then apply that data to business ventures, or velocity.
All over the world data is streaming at an extraordinary speed. An unfathomable amount of information is constantly flowing around the internet, without a way to identify the important data from the junk you will be left will trillions of gigabits of data to search through. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, sensors and smart metering are all modern ways of tracking data and capturing the important stuff.
In addition to data streaming at all hours of the day and night, data also comes in a variety of different formats: numeric data, unstructured documents, e-mail, audio, video and financial transactions. Being able to manage and accurately organize these different data types is another major undertaking.
Big data is the future, it will help businesses and consumers connect and also make lasting impressions and even relationships. Take some time to consider your impact on big data, as well as big data’s impact on you.
What do you think the future holds for big data?
