What's so BIG about Big Data?

The influx of digital technology has not only made our lives more reliable, accessible and convenient, it has left us with unfathomable amounts of data.  Every picture, swipe of a card, mouse click, text message, even down to the shows you watch- information is being collected.  Now, what gets done with this data is another story.

Making it work
There has been a lot of talk lately about Big Data and how to make sense of it all, how to actually go from just collecting and reporting it to leveraging it to make fundamental business decisions.  Monetate has created an infographic showing How Retailers Can Use Information to Drive Sales, but this simply scratches the surface.  As the Internet of Things continues to grow, inconceivable amounts of information will be collected, data that will open us up to a whole new world of prediction, optimization, customization.  We could track the performance of our washing machine, how many steps we can make in our shoes before they're considered worn-out.  We could track our health, providing a full accurate report to our doctor.  We would even be able to track exactly what you were doing in your car before you got in that accident.

Sure it sounds a little "Big Brother-ish," but what doesn't these days?  Today's creepiness will be tomorrow's normal, as more of us continue to benefit and come to expect the type of insights and results all this Big Data is going to give us.

Not so fast
We are still not at that point when it comes to Big Data.  The sheer volume of the data poses a huge problem, as we struggle to even get a grasp of it.  Beyond that, the unstructured nature of the majority of the data, has made deciphering it a challenge for the ages.  So all that data you thought was too revealing is, for the most part, just noise at the moment.  Many Data Scientists have made major strides in finding patterns and correlations, but we have only started to scratch the surface.

What does it all mean?
As companies continue to struggle with keeping their brands relevant, racing to utilize all of this information  is becoming critical.  As some brands learn to quickly adopt and integrate new technology, they are able to harness a brief competitive edge.  Once more companies jump on board, that adaptation simply becomes the norm, leaving any companies who aren't implementing it in the dust.  Web Analytics is a perfect example.

I will leave you with a video from the people at Kinsey & Company who offer the three things you need to make Big Data work.