What is Big Data – A Beginner’s Guide to the Big Data World
What is Big Data?
Big Data refers to the massive amounts of data or information which is pouring in from various data sources and has different formats. Even previously there was huge data which were being stored in databases, however because of the varied nature of this Data, the traditional relational database systems are incapable of handling this Data. Big Data is much more than a collection of datasets with different formats, it is an vital asset which can be used to obtain enumerable benefits.
Big Data Analytics
Now that we’ve told you what’s Big Data how exactly it’s being generated exponentially, let us present to you a really interesting example of how Starbucks, one of the leading coffeehouse chain is actually making use of this Big Data.
We came across a Forbes article which reported how Starbucks made use of this particular technology to analyse the preferences of their customers to enhance and thus personalize their experience. They analysed their member’s coffee buying habits along side their preferred drinks to what time of day they’re usually ordering. Therefore, even when people visit a “new” branch of Starbucks in a new location, that store’s point-of-sale system is able to spot the customer through their smartphone and thus provides the barista their most preferred order. In addition, based on ordering preferences, their app will suggest new products that the customers could be interested in trying. This is what we really call Big Data Analytics.
Basically, it’s largely utilized by companies to facilitate their growth and development. This majorly involves applying various data mining algorithms on the given set of data, which will in turn then aid them in better decision making.
There are several tools for processing Big Data like Hadoop, Cassandra, Hive, Spark, Kafka, and many more, depending upon the requirement of the organisation.
Big Data Applications
These are some of domains where Big Data Applications has been revolutionized, which are:
Entertainment: Amazon and Netflix use big data to make shows as well as movie recommendations to their users.
Insurance: Uses this technology in order to predict accidents, illness as well as price their products accordingly.
Driver-less Cars: Driver-less cars by Google collect about 1 gigabyte of data per second. These experiments further require more and more data for their successful execution.
Education: choosing big data powered technology as a learning tool rather than traditional lecture methods, which enhanced the learning of students as well aided the teacher to track their performance better.
Automobile: Rolls Royce has embraced this technology by fitting several sensors into its engines and propulsion systems, which record every tiny detail about their operation. The changes in data in real-time are reported to engineers who will decide the most effective course of action like scheduling maintenance or dispatching engineering teams should the problem require it.
Government: a really interesting use case is in the field of politics to analyse patterns and influence election results. Cambridge Analytica Ltd. is one such organisation which completely drives on data to actually change audience behaviour and plays a significant role in the electoral process.
Scope of Big Data
The career opportunities concerning the field of big data include, Big Data Analyst, Big Data Engineer, Big Data solution architect etc. 59% of all Data Science and Analytics (DSA) job demand is in Professional Services, Finance and Insurance, and IT according to IBM.
Furthermore, an article by Forbes reveals that “IBM predicts demand for Data Scientists will soar/increase exponentially by 28%”. According to IBM, by the end of 2020, the amount of jobs for all US data professionals will increase by 364,000 openings to 2,720,000. And there will be immense growth in the usage of big data analysis across the world.
