"Big Data" refers to the large volume of data – both structured and unstructured – that inundates businesses on a day-to-day basis. But it’s not the amount of data that’s important. It’s what organizations do with the data that matters. Big data can be analyzed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves.
Key concepts in big data include:
- Volume: The quantity of generated and stored data. The size of the data determines the value and potential insight, and whether it can be considered big data or not.
- Velocity: The speed at which new data is generated and the speed at which data moves around. With the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), data streams in to businesses at an unprecedented speed and must be handled timely.
- Variety: The type and nature of the data. Big data draws from text, images, audio, video; plus it completes missing pieces through data fusion.
- Veracity: The quality of the data. High veracity data has many sources adding up to a single, reliable truth.
- Value: This is the end goal. The ability to turn data into value is critical. It's all well and good having access to big data but unless we can turn it into value it is useless.
The use of big data is becoming common these days by the companies to outperform their peers. In most industries, existing competitors and new entrants alike will leverage data-driven strategies to innovate, compete, and capture value.
