What is Big Data?
Big data refers to massive complex structured and unstructured data sets that are rapidly generated and transmitted from a wide variety of sources.
Volume
Big data is enormous. While traditional data is measured in familiar sizes like megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes, big data is stored in petabytes and zettabytes. Big data provides the architecture handling this kind of data. Without the appropriate solutions for storing and processing, it would be impossible to mine for insights.
Velocity
From the speed at which it's created to the amount of time needed to analyze it, everything about big data is fast. Some have described it as trying to drink from a fire hose. Companies and organizations must have the capabilities to harness this data and generate insights from it in real-time, otherwise it's not very useful. Real-time processing allows decision makers to act quickly, giving them a leg up on the competition.
Variety
Roughly 95% of all big data is unstructured, meaning it does not fit easily into a straightforward, traditional model. Everything from emails and videos to scientific and meteorological data can constitute a big data stream, each with their own unique attributes.
How Big Data works
Set a big data strategy
At a high level, a big data strategy is a plan designed to help you oversee and improve the way you acquire, store, manage, share and use data within and outside of your organization. A big data strategy sets the stage for business success amid an abundance of data. When developing a strategy, it’s important to consider existing – and future – business and technology goals and initiatives.
Access, manage and store big data
Modern computing systems provide the speed, power and flexibility needed to quickly access massive amounts and types of big data. Along with reliable access, companies also need methods for integrating the data, ensuring data quality, providing data governance and storage . Some data may be stored on-premises in a traditional data warehouse – low-cost options for storing and handling big data via cloud solutions.
Analyze big data
With high-performance technologies like grid computing or in-memory analytics, organizations can choose to use all their big data for analyses. Another approach is to determine upfront which data is relevant before analyzing it. Either way, big data analytics is how companies gain value and insights from data. Increasingly, big data feeds today’s advanced analytics endeavors such as artificial intelligence.
Make intelligent, data-driven decisions
Well-managed, trusted data leads to trusted analytics and trusted decisions. To stay competitive, businesses need to seize the full value of big data and operate in a data-driven way – making decisions based on the evidence presented by big data rather than gut instinct. The benefits of being data-driven are clear. Data-driven organizations perform better, are operationally more predictable and are more profitable.
