When we speak about Big Data, the first thing that comes to mind is multi-terabytes of information or data sets. This potentially huge technology has been making rounds for some years in business circles and has become the center stone for robust development in recent times.
Many organizations have stepped out of their traditional zones and boundaries that were made up of enterprise solutions, for understanding the vast impact of Big Data and Business Analytics which does not seem to cease.
BIG data in different forms
Data is churned out via different mediums such as websites, social network channels, robotics, automatic sensors, and workplaces. This data is found is different forms that are structured or unstructured. Advanced forms of business analytics and big data are actually the art of getting all this data fragmented and aid in putting together these disconnected pieces for generating actionable insights for organizations.
Does this keep SMEs out of scope?
Right from its inception, big data has been known as a tool for the business world that specifically captured the eyes of big enterprises. However, though this technology has been utilized by the bigger enterprises on a large scale, does not entitle that smaller organizations can ignore it completely.
Smaller businesses too need to think BIG and jump onto this bandwagon for staying ahead. This race is not restricted to competition alone; it is also in terms of technology to boost their future growth endeavors. The competitive environment for business makes it imperative for organizations, which are yet to adopt big data or analytics, to start utilizing their huge potential positively. Smaller enterprises or start-ups need to adapt quickly and ensure that they embark on the path to technological brilliance for sustained growth.
Streamlined process with business analytics
Many big organizations and well-known corporate houses are managing their processes for business with the use of real-time or predictive business analytics. Use of dynamic technologies for business analytics is on the rise.
Flexible and perfectly coordinated processes of business analytics ensure that enterprises are able to discover potentials from their market and take proper steps to ensure that their business improves accordingly. Analytics aids these businesses to quickly take action to demands put forth by the market. They are able to use the accentuated volumes of data; both external as well as internal, effectively. This leads to significant gains for the company and also offers better clarity or predictability with regards to informed business decisions.
When organizations begin to use business analytics and big data effectively, they start gaining in terms of new offerings from their respective markets. They start to understand and analyze their customers in a better manner, know how their customers behave, operate and what are their opinions. With this data in hand, companies can withstand business drivers; both internal as well as external and step forward in the right direction to gain.
Mobile has opened the Pandora box
While talking about big data and business analytics, one aspect that has impacted both these in a positive manner is a smartphone. Smartphones have thronged the market like never before and almost every activity with regards to daily needs is performed using these devices. As a matter of fact, people are accompanied by their phones every moment; even while sleeping.
With consumer behavior favoring mobiles, the opportunities with regards to collection of data about their daily behavior increase. Unlike sometime back when desktops and laptops with internet connection were the only options for collection of data, mobile phones have ensured that user behavior is tracked all through the day.
The impact of mobile phones has been so vast that people prefer it as the primary medium to go online. This again opens the Pandora box for advertisers along with the app developers to perfectly understand their audience and also reach them. With big data and analytics, this reach has been rendered real time; thus benefiting organizations.
Big data is related to aggregation of information from sources that are potentially disparate. The goal here is to draw some meaningful conclusions with regard to some individuals or some group. Though data mining as a function has been present for almost 5 decades now, with penetration of mobiles skyrocketing, opportunities for gaining meaningful insights for consumer spending patterns have increased. Moreover, this has led to understanding how consumers spend their time along with their money.
The flow of information is two-way. Mobiles have become a source to collect information for big data and analytics for giant organizations like Google, while developers of apps for mobiles are also rendered with the ability to pull out data from digital warehouses. So it is a win-win situation for both. What this situation has ensured is that it has also benefited the consumers with enhanced services that somehow always match their preferences and needs; that too in real time.
Know where your consumers are
A decade must have passed when regulators like FCC put forth regulations that every new phone needs to have location based technology like GPS built-in. This was initially to track emergency callers. However, these mandates meant milestones of sorts for the industry of big data and analytics. This was because these mandates altered the very nature in which information was captured and then mined in comparison to laptops or desktops.
The primary difference that was witnessed due to these changes was that laptops and desktops were stationary objects which did not necessarily possess GPS trackers or sensors. However, mobile phones were quite different and had the capacity to aid location awareness by capturing data mined from these devices.
Location awareness formed a gateway for an enhanced method of interaction with services. To explain with an example, services like Foursquare or Twitter allowed users to publish the locations to their trusted friends or members across social networks. Everyone is aware that Twitter and Foursquare then mined this information about the location for selling it to advertisers for commercial gains. This resulted in producing some new models for doing business.
Social networks as mentioned above engaged in pushing advertisements or coupons to users of mobile phones based on their location. Along with gains for advertisers, app developers too benefited from this push ads, as they got opportunities to connect with their users in a better way. The end users on their part benefited by getting various offers, discount coupons or adverts based on their location which helped them in some way or the other.
Living in a virtual world
With the advent and sort of dominance of mobile phones, people have started living in a virtual world. This is true while they are actually moving around in this physical world. Some games that people play on their mobiles, present them a virtual world that is over and above their physical world. These games present physical spaces for players, within which these players interact across virtual worlds that are overlaid on their neighborhood. This creates a blending of real with imaginary.
Retailers or businesses on their part are able to provide these above-mentioned people or players with special offers based on their location. These offers inject suggestions or provocations into the consciousness of these players; thus resulting in impulse buying.
Such things were initially not possible. However, with a perfect synchronization of big data, business analytics and mobile apps, this has become a reality. Further, responses given to these locations based offers by users, are mined with the intent of refinement for future offers. Such has been the extraordinary impact of mobile phones for big data and business analytics experts.
Some surveys present astonishing figures
A survey conducted by IBM technologies has indicated that mobile phones have the potential of increasing productivity along with the efficiency of any organization. This further adds to the point that mobile apps and software were in huge demand and were second to none in terms of technological innovations.
Gartner has also anticipated about mobile analytics being the latest technological brilliance which had the power of disrupting the market for Business Intelligence. The potential market for advertising across mobiles has been escalating very rapidly. With regards to this, a survey conducted by eMarketer some time back predicted this sector to experience a vast surge. From $2.6 billion in the year 2012, this market had the potential to reach above $10.8 billion in the year 2016. However, with time from this survey, professionals have increasingly created enhanced applications across operating systems of mobiles which will further topple this predicted figure.
Businesses are becoming more interactive via the proliferation of NFC (Near-field communication). What this means is that the chips embedded in mobile phones or consumers, actually exchange date with businesses or items of retailers that have NFC tags. Predictions are that NFC transactions will reach around $10 billion till 2017. With all latest Microsoft and Android phones including the capabilities of NFC, things are looking bigger than expectations. Apple too is set to include these capabilities in its devices.
All these figures mean that the blend of big data, business analytics and mobile apps have the potential of reaching newer and greener pastures. It can be very easily said that with mobile apps, big data and analytics have got a boost that will correspondingly propel businesses to new heights.
Automated processes, better productivity
Once organizations employ the practices of automation and big data in their processes, they ensure that all inefficiency with regards to their business processes is automatically negated. Additionally, this will not be any consequence, but it will actually be a byproduct that naturally produces enhanced productivity and efficiency.
With synchronization of mobile apps, big data and analytics, organizations will naturally become streamlined. They will benefit in various ways. One of these benefits will be saving valuable man hours that can be then be utilized for performing other important functions to increase productivity. Automation along with the by-products of big data and mobile apps will ensure that employees are in better positions to perform their duties fluidly. Their efforts will be minimized and overall, the organization will reap rewards.
With smartphones and tablets becoming the primary devices for accessing applications and the internet, businesses can look forward to finding more audience that is reaching them via mobiles. With big data aiding information requirements and mobiles tracking user movement, the implications will only be positive here on.
A mobility of processes will offer organizations the ability to adopt collaborative applications that allow team members the power to work in tandem for projects; that too in real time. Collaborative apps will also allow the teams to communicate real time; irrespective of where they are based.
The way forward
More and more companies have started realizing the power of big data. This has prompted them to get data-driven along with developing mobile apps that will integrate big data and analytics for services and products offered.
With companies on an expansion mode, their users to are correspondingly increasing. However, this entitles that companies become efficient enough to handle this vast data influx via mobile apps.
Virtual architecture is getting adopted more widely than before. This is more because organizations expect to reach a position wherein they are able to manage vast data sets from mobiles. Companies need to then ensure that they employ necessary measures to extract the true potential of this data, instead of putting efforts to address needs related to infrastructure enhancement. Use of big data, mobile apps, analytics and cloud technology is the best way to move forward.
Organizations need to get completely equipped for handling the vast data for scaling needs of growing business. With big organizations already adopting the synchronization of analytics and mobile applications, others too need to follow this trend to move ahead and stay in sync with changing market environments. Ensuring this will mean that businesses will be in a better position to manage data and this, in turn, will aid decision making. The collaborative approach will prove fruitful in the long run.
Ashish Parmar
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