4 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Big Data
Using Big Data to make better, faster, and more accurate business decisions is about more than just collecting gigabytes of data.
You’ll get better results when you take a strategic approach to leveraging data. That’s how you can increase the odds of using data successfully – or at least remain competitive.
It isn’t easy to adopt the right tools to implement your strategy. Anyone who’s ever tried to adjust to shifts in the marketplace can tell you this.
Sometimes you need an independent perspective to help you on your way.
So here are four mind-blowing benefits of Big Data that can fast-track your path to entrepreneurial success.
Big Data Basics
First things first, what exactly is Big Data?
The term “Big Data” refers to gathering massive data sets and then analyzing them to recognize and interpret any patterns, trends, and anomalies. This is especially true with respect to human behavior.
Kevin Murcko, CEO of CoinMetro told Entrepreneur, “”Users of big data have typically been large enterprises who can afford to hire data scientists to churn the information. But now, thanks to democratization of tech and the rise of blockchain, there are tools that can be used by small and medium-sized companies to both gather big data and to use it to make good business decisions – decisions that will help them be competitive and grow.”
That is great news for smaller businesses. Now, thanks to the proliferation of accessible technology, Big Data and its associated benefits are available to a greater number of entrepreneurs.
Unfortunately, even with the greater availability many decision makers are not using Big Data. In fact, Harvard Business Review noted, “On average, marketers depend on data for just 11% of all customer-related decisions. In fact, when we asked marketers to think about the information they used to make a recent decision, they said that more than half of the information came from their previous experience or their intuition about customers. They put data last on their list — trailing conversations with managers and colleagues, expert advice and one-off customer interactions.”
According to research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global market for big data is expected to rise to almost $67 billion by the year 2021.
That begs the question: Are you ready?
How to Use Big Data for Better Business Decisions
According to Competitive Intelligence Expert and Entrepreneur contributor, Benjamin Gilad, “Big Data, along with the analytics to process it, means better, faster, more-accurate forecasts and, therefore better, faster, more-accurate decisions.”
- Gain a Better Understanding of Your Customers — Right now, it seems that market research may be the biggest area of impact for Big Data. When you collect the proper data, you’ll begin to understand your customers buying patterns, habits, concerns, and challenges.
- Predicting Customer Behavior — Data allows entrepreneurs to analyze customer actions and make more informed decisions based on what they learn. By looking at previous transactions, decision makers can anticipate what may happen down the road.
- Exploring & Predicting Trends — Data also allows business owners to recognize and anticipate relevant trends. For example, Google Trend allows you to search trends based on keywords or terms. You can easily see which way the proverbial wind is blowing.
- Detect and Prevent Cybersecurity Threats — One often-overlooked benefit to using Big Data is being able to discover and avert cybersecurity risks. Threat intelligence platforms process huge volumes of threat data with the goal of improving cyber security.
Key Takeaway
Hopefully, you see the benefits of running a data-driven company.
Nowyou’re armed with the different ways Big Data can enrich your business. You can start to develop a strategy for employing it in your business. The next time you hear people discuss Big Data, you’ll know exactly what they’re talking about.
How else are you handling Big Data? What other ways are you seeing business owners use data to succeed? Let us know in the comments!
