A_REVOLUTIONARY_INNOVATION_OF_THE_CENTURY-BIG DATA
We are going to witness a tremendous change in the operations and strategic planning of companies
in the next five years. This is not confined to any one sector. We will witness
this change from banking and retail to data mining sector. The reason for this
is unveiling of big data and data analysis.
Experts in this field profess that big
data and its analysis has the potential to bring out significant changes in business
approaches and models. According to them the sky is the limit to reap the
benefits out of big data analysis. Admittedly, the biggest revolutionary
innovation of this century is the big data and big data analysis. Due to
increasing on-line purchases, impact of social media and computerization,
there is a chance to get huge amount of data
relating to consumers’ purchasing patterns, preferences, opinions, attitudes
and as a result, consumers and corporates will get innumerable
benefits, if this data is adequately analyzed and pragmatically put to use.
Experts also state that big data and its
analysis has indeed become rather a pivotal axis for the new product or
services development and incorporation of innovative ways of business. Automobile
manufacturing companies have come forward and are doing experiments to
manufacture a driverless car, after study of the driving style of millions of
drivers. IISc (Indian Institute of Sciences), Bangalore has been working on a
project to manufacture a robot to harvest cotton from the agri- fields, by
utilizing the concept of the analysis of big data.
The meaning of data has changed; earlier
data were mere numbers and figures only, now the data has not only been an
admixture of numbers and figures but also photos and video forms that are
mushrooming. As much as ninety percent of the data now available across the
world had been produced in the last two years only. There is estimation that in
each of the next five years, the productivity of data would enhance 10 times.
Most of the start-ups have been coming into the area of data analysis. So far,
companies have been focusing on storing of data and managing it in a systematic
way. At present, companies use only 10
to 20 percent of the benefits of the data analysis,
however, in the next 4 to 5 years, it would go up to 70 to 80 percent. Such is the huge potential of big data.
Companies can formulate new business
models based on data analysis. Those companies that have regularly been
analyzing data can surely become successful in future. For instance, the
biggest taxi aggregator service provider in the world Uber has been utilizing
the data, analyzing it and even could recommending hotel rooms to the
customers. One of the senior officers of a Hyderabad based big data analyzing
company has stated that it has become the most important activity for the
bigger and rapidly growing companies in the world like ‘Apple’, and ‘Google’.
India has become a hub for ‘analytical software products’ with approximately
400 domestic companies. Ten percent of the Start Up companies
focus on big data analysis. Mr. Ravikumar, Vice
President, INNOMINDS opines that Indian Big Data
Analytics Industry could optimistically grow, due to the increased demand for
the “cloud based” forecasting expectation analysis.
The life cycle of technology is short.
Customers’ tastes have been changing drastically; the
way it has changed was not witnessed earlier. In this context,
it is very important for the administrators of a company to identify the changes
happening in the market from time to time to administer
the company successfully in the market. Accordingly, the companies are needed
to change their business models. Situations have been driving the companies to
take key decisions on cost control, reduction of risk and to increase income to
face the competitive world. For all these, big data analysis is very useful.
Statistics have been clearly stating that the utilization of big data analysis
has increased five-fold in the companies that have been showing top class
performance in their operations.
There is a chance of highest demand for
the big data analysis being felt in Banking, Insurance and Health Care Services
Industries, due to the increased regulations and simultaneous need for
transparency in their operations. Mr. Mahapatro, Chief Information Officer of
SBI has stated that big data analysis is adequately found useful to the banking
sector in various departments’ right from cost control to identifying the
customers, who may have a chance to indulge in any form of malpractices. He
also stated that bankers can use the big data analysis for their day to day
operations, advertising their products and estimating the profits so as to match
with the investments made. He has also pointed out that usually it is highly
difficult to study and analyze every customer’s ways and means of banking
transactions. However, it is possible only through a high configuration of
computer systems. He said that banks have been started with
data warehouses, communication management systems and, business
intelligence departments, for big data analysis
operations.
Big data and data analytics has come to
stay as way of corporate life and become a boon in this period of intense
competitive scenario that the corporate world faces.
-
Dr.
N. Rama Mohan Prakash,
Assistant Professor, GITAM Institute of Management