Big data is a technology catchphrase that seems confusing and frequently misconstrued. Yet, it has considerable influence on today’s enterprises.

Look at these statistics:

More than 50 percent of corporations will boost their investments in Big Data within three years. 65 percent of these enterprises believe they cannot compete by failing to espouse Big Data. 64 percent see Big Data affecting conventional business borders and allowing non-traditional companies to become players in their industries.

What do these imply? Big Data is here to stay!

This has become a boardroom buzz since last 2014 as corporate entities realized the value of this phenomenon for collection and analysis of massive information. These in turn can open new possibilities across businesses and broader spectrum of society.

Data Infrastructure and Potentials

Focus of government and business is data infrastructure, management and storage. Meanwhile, Big Data has reveled the potentials in the areas of genetic or linkage mapping and customized e-commerce. Some experts in digital business say Big Data supported by aggressive development of processing dominance and software technologies like HADOOP now allow organizations to deal with all kinds of data issues and make decisions that were not possible before.

Big Data is what will make knowledgeable companies surpass others to do extremely well. Data is merged with every area and function in the world economy. In fact, it seems that economic activity cannot take off due to its absence. It has become as important as human resources and hard assets. Utilization of enormous pools of data that can be accumulated and assessed to help in decision-making will spur competition and progress for individual companies. It can increase productivity and build significant value by minimizing waste and enhancing quality of commodities and services.

Recent studies made by research giant, McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey & Company Business Technology Office disclosed the pure volume of data produced, preserved and mined for awareness is very economically applicable to enterprises, governments and ordinary consumers. Big Data will certainly affect and transform lives. Innovations in technology followed by espousal of balancing management improvements are set for Big Data. Suppliers of data technology as well as highly developed analytic capabilities will have substantial effect on efficiency.

New Competitive Advantage

Big Data is necessary for many companies to do better than their peers. The truth is reputable businesses and start-ups are inclined to control data-driven strategies and become more competitive. Some entrepreneurs who adopted Big Data early know the opportunities for growth. Many of them will encounter massive information flows where data about merchandise and services, purchasers and suppliers, consumer preferences and plans can be obtained and analyzed. Progressive leaders across different industries must become more assertive in nurturing their respective capabilities in Big Data.

Over and above the magnitude of Big Data, real-time and high-frequency features of this information are equally vital. For instance, “Now-Casting”, which is the capability to assess metrics like consumer confidence is becoming used more widely adding significant power to forecasting. In the same manner, high-frequency data enables users to examine theories in near real-time to a level which was not possible in the past.

Leveraging Big Data

Having gone through all these, enterprises will find out that Big Data has the power to unravel meaningful value by making information clearer. There remains a big volume of data that has not been secured in digital form such as paper documents or accessible through networks. In this case, there should be continuous data searching and research after which these should be transferred to virtual locations.

Another remarkable finding is that organizations have the tendency to create and keep more data in algorithmic form. They are given the means to gather more accurate and comprehensive performance information on significant matters such as product inventories, employee concerns as well as expose inconsistencies and upgrade performance. Some big corporations are using their potentials to accumulate and evaluate Big Data to perform regulated experiments that will lead to more effective management decisions.

Complex analytics can improve decision-making significantly. At the same time, it can reduce risks and discover more important insights that could have not been perceived without Big Data. Last but not least, Big Data will facilitate development of goods and services for the next generation.  This will be applicable to various industries and definitely lead to a more competitive marketplace.

Big Data is Big Business

The age of Big Data will generate fresh management concepts. Corporate leaders can discover extra competitive benefits together with the need for capturing more useful data as well as put it into effective usage at scale. It is important to reflect on these findings and concerns carefully. Then, you will recognize that Big Data can support hypotheses, strategies and changes in modern business practices. It will be big business after all.