If you’re considering taking one of Schulich’s business courses, big data is a trendy, useful topic to study. Big data is becoming increasingly important in our world of growing technology and digital information. Find below information on what big data is and other facts about the importance of big data.
1. What Is Big Data?
First, it’s important to understand what big data actually is. Big data is the term used to describe collections of data that are too large or complicated for traditional data-processing application software to handle effectively. Often, big data is a concern of businesses because the better they can handle big data, the better their business will function.
A major issue in today’s world of business is determining the best way to handle big data. If it is managed properly, businesses can make informed decisions and strategic moves that improves their overall success.
Now that you know what big data is, find below a number of facts related to big data.
2. Volumes of Data
To give you an idea of how much data is out there, more data was created in the past two years than in the entire history of the human race prior to those two years. It doesn’t stop there, the amount of data that is being created every day is increasing too.
Since the amounts of data are increasing exponentially, the need for management of big data is even more important. In fact, as a business, how big data is handled may determine your success relative to others in your industry.
3. Ignored Data
A recent study showed that most companies only utilize 12% of the data they have access to. This means that 88% of data is ignored! If this much data wasn’t ignored, companies would have more information meaning that their decisions would be better and more informed.
However, this isn’t really the fault of businesses. Employees simply don’t have enough time to sort through the expansive volumes of data, especially since most can’t determine what data is useful and what is useless.
Due to the amount of ignored data, you can understand how important big data is. If companies were to utilize the other 88% of data they have, they would make much better decisions and perfect their strategies.
4. Business Investment
In the world of business, roughly 73% of companies have already invested or plan to invest in big data based on a study done in 2016. This is very logical and smart because companies can leverage the power of big data thereby increasing their operating margins.
5. Data Quality
Individuals within the information technology workforce claim that they don’t always know who owns data. If data ownership can’t be identified, then no one is accountable for the data’s contents meaning that the quality is unknown.
To put things into perspective, if you read an article published by Harvard, you know that it is a reliable source and the university is accountable for its data quality and accuracy. But if you read an article from Wikipedia, you don’t know who published the information therefore you can’t know if it is reliable or not.
Big data aims to fuse together sources and varieties of data. This is beneficial because the accuracy and quality of the data will be more reliable which promotes success.
6. Big Data, Big Money
Currently, big data is in short supply despite how high the demand is. This means that individuals with expertise in big data will excel in their careers and make lots of money. In fact, software that handles big data is a growing sector of the big data industry which promises a lot of jobs and success for leaders in the industry.
