Jonathan Buckley

In today’s digital world, many people have become more worried about the possibility of having government agencies track them. Considering the controversy surrounding the leak of NSA programs that target U.S. citizens, these worries are not without reason. With the explosion of big data technologies, it has become easier than ever for governments to keep track of what their citizens are doing. It’s all in the effort of protection, at least in most circumstances, but it does have the feeling of violating personal privacy.

Big data has become tremendously popular with businesses these days. It’s the latest buzz term that everyone seems to be using to indicate their willingness to use new technology to improve their companies. That doesn’t make it bad; it just means that it’s a clear trend many are eager to become a part of. In fact, its transformative effect is very real despite the tendency of businesses to refer to it as if it were a shiny new toy. As revolutionary as big data analytics has been in just the past few years, some organizations may be misunderstanding how to truly get the most out of it.

To even suggest that the construction and communication of a story could one day be taken over by computers can lead to eye rolling and dismissive scoffs. After all, storytelling is a uniquely human activity, one that requires creativity, emotion, and a connection with the human audience. At first glance, computer could never replicate such a thing, right? The conventional wisdom, however, might be off in this case. With the rise of big data, new ways to create and tell stories have been developed, leading many to rethink what they previously held to be true about the art of storytelling.

Apple is often on the cutting edge of technological advances, so it probably shouldn't be a surprise that the company uses big data extensively. Having said that, it’s important to note that it wasn’t always this way. Other businesses like Google were heavily involved in big data years before Apple took the leap, but Apple has worked tirelessly to catch up to the competition. Now, the company has become enmeshed in big data analytics, with the technology driving many of their most important decisions. It’s true that Apple remains highly secretive about how they use big data in many cases, but that hasn’t prevented some interesting insights from being divulged.

Big data seems to be all the rage these days. The same can be said of cloud computing. So it only stands to reason that the two would be brought together as companies start to realize just how effective both are at improving growth and increasing the chances for success. Big data platforms delivered via the cloud have become more and more popular over the past few years for good reason. Businesses see the value big data analytics and ad hoc analysis can offer, and one of the best ways to use it is to adopt a cloud platform for it. Deciding on using big data in the cloud is a relatively straightforward choice for organizations to make.

Contrary to popular belief, the big data process isn’t a funnel. For whatever reason, we’ve come to think the more information we dump in from the top, the more actionable, quality insights will come out through the bottom. That just isn’t the case. We’re creating more data every day than any other point in history, but not all of this information is a golden opportunity. Most of it’s just noise. The real key to success is being able to navigate through the clutter and determine what pieces of information are pertinent.  

Competition in the retail world is as cutthroat as ever. With so many retailers out there, the race is on to reach as many customers as possible with the best offers possible. Businesses that go into this race expecting to use traditional methods, however, will quickly find themselves falling behind the rest of the pack. We live in a much different world now where customers are more knowledgeable and empowered than ever before. Thanks to the internet, consumers can find out all they want to know about specific products before ever deciding to purchase them. This has forced retailers to raise their game when it comes to wooing current and prospective customers.

Big Data is changing the world. The ability to store, manage and extract actionable insights from vast and deep lakes of disparate data pouring in from multiple sources has transformed businesses, industries, and our lives.

And for this we can thank the cloud.