You may have heard the term “big data” and brushed it off as something not applicable to your business. A study conducted by Techaisle revealed, however, that there is an increasing interest in big data and its advantages for SMBs. According to the study, business owners have begun to see the competitive advantages big data offers and are willing to invest in consultants that will help them develop big data insights.
Before we go any further, you should probably be familiar with what the term “big data” means. There are several definitions floating around, but, at its core, big data refers to the copious amounts of data that would “take too much time and cost too much money to load” into a database for analysis. Let’s explain it this way: 90% of the data that exists today was created within the last two years and 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day. It is difficult to analyze all of that. Big data can include anything from photos and videos to Tweets.
Now that you understand the basis of what big data is, it is important to note that it affects everyone, not just large corporations; it will become “a key basis of competition, underpinning waves of productivity growth, innovation, and consumer surplus.” Because of that fact, all companies should consider big data an important factor in running their day-to-day operations and will need to leverage strategies to capitalize on that data. By analyzing the data available, you can make well-informed decisions that will benefit your business. It can also help keep you abreast of the topics and ideas pertaining to your industry such as competitor’s promotions and comments on Facebook and Twitter. For example, a company can analyze data and determine which of their products sells best and when; they can even go so far as to link sales data to time, weather or even local events.
Big data also seems to be one of the main contributors to the growth of cloud computing. Cloud technology allows consumers to more easily access the kind of data they need in order to grow their business: “Cloud infrastructure and platforms will play a huge role in accessing, processing, and analyzing such massive amounts of data. This is where cloud-based systems shine.” Some analysts say that how people use big data will determine the “winners and losers in the next wave of cloud computing innovation.”
One major trend in the growing connection between cloud computing and big data is the BDA, or the big data app. According to Raj De Datta, BDA’s are web-based applications that interpret and use big data to bring results to their clients (a good example of a BDA is the networking and recruiting website, LinkedIn). He says that they are an extension of the SaaS cloud model.
Storing and handling a lot of data can be extremely difficult, especially for small businesses. At IronOrbit, we design cloud solutions that help our customers, with their specific needs and requirements in mind. We know that as your company grows, the amount of data you store and process does as well. Our clouds are highly scalable and allow your infrastructure to grow as your company’s needs grow. With our Atomic Speed Technology, you can grow your infrastructure whenever you want, for no upfront fee.