Big data is going to be a significant factor in business

In this knowledge economy, data is quickly proving to be indispensable.

With digital technology becoming more and more accessible via smartphones, data is being produced by humans at ever-increasing speeds. According to an estimate, we produce around 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every single day!

This data is a potential treasure trove. Knowingly or unknowingly, users drop golden nuggets of data, which helps businesses in molding their offerings according to the user's preference. This ultimately leads to higher sales and higher profit margins. Many Big Data Analytics companies have emerged, who can leverage the power of Big Data.

Using the potential of Big Data to improve businesses

In targeted marketing

It is a well-known fact that the more connected a person feels with the brand, the more likely he/she is to buy from it. Big data can help in achieving this connection by assisting marketers in creating highly personalized and targeted ads.

For instance, through Big data analytics, one can find out that a particular user prefers red color in smartphones. Using this information, a smartphone company can target this user with ads showing red-colored smartphones only which will increase the chances of conversion.

Gone are the days when reaching a large number of people was the main idea behind marketing. Now marketing campaigns are laser-focused on maximizing the conversion rates; it is of no use if you reach 100 people and can convert only 2 into paying customers. Marketers are now happy to reach only 10 customers and convert 8 out of these 10 into paying customers.

The targeting strategy of RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) is an ideal example of companies using interferences from Big data to serve the customer in a better manner. Our banks know much more about us than we can possibly think. They know where we like to eat, where we want to holiday, what are some of our regular purchases and other information.

But unlike other banks who bombard their customers with irrelevant loan and discount offers, RBS takes the approach of making the lives of the customers easier by giving them advice on saving money.

For example, the systems of RBS will warn you from purchasing international travel insurance from a third party if the travel insurance already comes with your RBS account.

This helps in boosting customer loyalty as who doesn’t like a brand that takes care of their needs and saves them money?

Targeting the correct set of customers, especially when they are likely to buy, is the idea behind targeted marketing, and Big data analytics arms you with the requisite knowledge to achieve this goal.

Building better products

Big data can help you in creating better and more responsive products and services. Customers are always giving feedback to brands, those brands that listen, win. For instance:- If the smartphone is too big to handle, then it won't matter if it has a great camera and a sleuth of other features; people simply won't bother.

Hence you must analyze the big data to know more about your customers. By analyzing the correct data, you can easily deduce, which are the desirable features in your product and which ones do the customers despise. You can then mold your product in such a manner that it contains more desirable traits than the undesirable ones.

Big data thus helps in improving your product/service, which ultimately helps your business in achieving that competitive edge in the market.

Selecting the best candidates

Getting the right people for the right job is a headache. Big data can help in solving this headache of yours by analyzing vast swathes of data to match the right candidates with the right jobs. AI programs, when fed with correct data, will quickly analyze the experience, education, and other skill sets along with parameters like social media activity and family background.

Such an approach will help in identifying the right candidates for the right jobs, which will eventually help in increasing the productivity of your business.

Along with helping in selecting the best candidates, Big data systems are also helping in the training and onboarding process of the employees. AI systems based on Big data are already helping employees in the onboarding process. They are also assisting human instructors in designing optimal training courses to integrate trainees into the workforce quickly.

Cost reduction

Cloud-based storage and analytics solutions help in achieving cost reduction. Now there is no need to keep a separate physical server space in your office; you could just purchase server space on Amazon or Google.

Apart from this, Big data can provide you with insights regarding cost-reduction in your company. For instance:- by analyzing previous purchase data, Big data systems can help you in achieving just in time inventory. This would not only reduce the pressure on inventory but also help in freeing up funds previously blocked in inventory.

Data-based fraud detection systems have saved millions of dollars for credit card companies.

Faster decision making

It is cumbersome, mistake-prone, and costly to use humans in analyzing substantial data sets. Big data makes this process easy and cost-effective. If you want to test any hypothesis, Big data systems can smoothly run millions of calculations within seconds and help you test the hypothesis in a matter of minutes.

Thus Big data systems can help you in making decisions faster.

A classic example of big data aiding in decision making is the Walmart Data cafe. In this state of the art Big Data Analytics Center, Wallmart has given the power of big data into the hands of its employees. Here people come with their problems and find data-driven solutions within a short period.

In one store, the sale of a particular grocery item was declining at an alarming rate. On analyzing various data sets, it was found that a simple misrepresentation of the sale price was the culprit. Thus with the help of Big data, Walmart nipped a problem in the bud before it could affect its sales in a significant manner.

Conclusion

As we have seen above, big data helps businesses in a myriad of ways. Right from delivering personalized ads to customers, to assisting in selecting the correct candidates for your company, big data helps in improving the operational efficiency of any business.

We will generate 40 trillion gigabytes of data by 2020. Hence it is evident that with so much of data produced, big data systems are going to play a vital role in the success of your business.