Data is accumulating at an exponentially increasing and alarming rate. This massive, quantum rise of information floating around the internet and being put to use is referred to as ‘big data’. According to IBM, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day and 90% of the data in the world has been created in the past two years alone. The problem for businesses is not how much they have but what they do with it.

The one thing that is clear about all this data is that we can learn more from a large body of information than we ever could with smaller amounts. More and more companies are turning to data to support a more informed approach to decision making.  Data can be taken from a source and analysed to find answers which will enable cost and time reductions, new product development and smart decision making.

For example, the supermarket giant Tesco collected 70 million refrigerator-related data points coming off its units and fed them into a dedicated data warehouse. The data points were analysed to keep better tabs on performance, gauge when the machines might need to be serviced and provide more proactive maintenance to cut energy costs.

Many businesses generate a large amount of data, but do not use it to effectively drive business planning. Using Big Data effectively will improve and enhance your customer engagement strategies to add much-needed value to all offline and online interactions.

With this in place, it becomes easier and smoother to integrate data, amend processes and drive positive changes based on results. Obviously, it’s crucial to constantly evolve over time, as all of the elements are subject to change. Whether you were first in the queue or the last one to the Big Data party, it will keep on introducing you to new and improved ways of working, living and thinking that you probably wouldn’t have thought of before.