Big Data

1 INTRODUCTION
The structured and unstructured large volumes of data, that inundate a
business on a day-to-day basis is called Big Data. The significance of the
quantity of data is not of importance here. It is what the organizations
intend to do with it that matters. It can be analyzed for insights that lead to
strategic business moves and better decisions
We are awash in a flood of data today. Data is being collected at
unprecedented scale in a broad range of application areas. Decisions
which were purely made on guesswork can now be made based on the
data itself. Such Big Data analysis now entices itself to control every aspect
of our modern society, including life sciences, retail, manufacturing, mobile
services, financial services, and physical sciences.

2 BIG DATA HISTORY AND CURRENT

CONSIDERATIONS

Big Data is considered to be a new concept, but the act of accumulating

and storing large volumes of information for future analysis is ages old.

The concept started to trend in the early 2000s. A contemporary analyst

Doug Laney verbalized the now-mainstream interpretation of big data as
the three Vs:

Volume: Organizations receive data from diversified sources, comprising

business transactions, social media and data from sensor or machine-to-
machine data. Storing data was a big problem until the new technologies
(such as Hadoop) have eased the burden.
Velocity: Data gushes in at an unparalleled pace and must be dealt with in
a timely fashion. RFID tags, sensors and smart metering are urging the
need to deal with deluges of data in near-real time.

Variety: Data comes in all kinds of forms from structured, numeric data in
conventional databases to unstructured text documents, video, audio,
emails, stock ticker data and monetary transactions.

Two additional dimensions are to be considered when it comes to Big Data:

Variability: In extension to the dominant rapidities and varieties of data,

data flows can be highly erratic with periodic peaks. Is something trending
in social media? Daily, seasonal including event-triggered peak data
amounts can be challenging to maintain. Even more so with unstructured
data.

Complexity: Today's data arrives from various sources, which makes it

challenging to link, match, cleanse and modify data across systems.
However, its essential to connect and correlate relationships,
bureaucracies, and various data linkages or your data can quickly spiral out
of control.

3 BIG DATAS POTENTIAL

The quantity of data thats being generated and stored on a global level is
almost unimaginable, and it just retains to grow. That means theres even
more potential to gather key insights from business information yet barely
a small portion of data is actually analyzed. What does that indicate for
businesses? How can they make better use of the raw data that streams
into their organizations every day?
4 WHY IS BIG DATA IMPORTANT?
It's not about how much data you possess. It's about what you intend to do
with it. Data from any source can be acquired and analyzed to find the
answers that enable
1) Smart decision making.
2) Cost reductions,
3) Time reductions, and
4) New product development and optimized offerings
Connecting big data with high-powered analytics, many business-related
tasks can be accomplished such as:
Recalculating undivided risk portfolio in minutes
To determining the root cause of failures, issues and defects which
may occur in near-real time.
To generate coupons at the point of sale with the acknowledgment of
customers buying habits.
Detecting deceitful behavior before it affects your business.

5 RETROSPECTIVE DETERMINISM
As per the original definition, Retrospective Determinism is the informal
fallacy that because something happened under some circumstances, it
was therefore bound to happen due to those circumstances.
This is the prime disadvantage of big data, as it relies on former behavior to
predict future behaviors. A customer's past is not a failsafe indicator of their
future, notably as consumer tastes and industry trends evolve swiftly.
Notwithstanding its surging prevalence, it also comes with a few other
unique sets of challenges, in particular, the tenor to confuse correlation with
causation, generally unqualified practitioners, a lack of conventional
scientific protocols, and a host of ethical/humane concerns.
6 WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
Sure we cant change the basic functionality of the processes undergoing
with Big Data.
But, if we could couple Big Data with Artificial Intelligence. An AI which
analyses the market changes, and predicts the future actions of customers
contextually. An AI whose decision is not just based upon the past events,
but which also considers things like evolving trends, changes in industry,
inflation, demand etc., so that the decision taken is an informed one, be it a
strategic business move or to acknowledge an unprecedented insight.
For that, a deep understanding of Artificial Intelligence is required. It
wouldnt be considered to be an exaggeration to say that it may take years
of research to develop such an AI.