Technology continues to develop, and data usage continues to increase. So, big data is a phenomenon that cannot be avoided.
The concept of big data may need to be more widely understood. Still, the benefits of big data have been widely felt, especially for internet users who access information online at any time.
In fact, many examples of big data have proven to better support business processes. What’s the explanation?
So, in this article, we will discuss big data. Starting from the definition of big data and the benefits of big data.
What is Big Data: Definition and Meaning
Big data is a large, complex, and growing collection of data all the time. This data is generated from internet activities that are increasingly routinely carried out for personal and business purposes.
For example, initially, essential information from you might be in the form of data on your name, address, and telephone number.
But now, the data you have is increasingly diverse, including posts on social media, shopping history on marketplaces, to searches on search engines that show your interest in a topic.
All this data is continuously generated together with data from other users worldwide. In fact, internet users generate about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day!
Therefore, it is essential to be able to manage big data well. So, it can support your activities as a person, especially for business.
In fact, the role of big data in business is quite significant. For example, for website users, big data can help collect website traffic data or purchase rates easily.
What is Big Data: Benefits
Here are some benefits of Big Data for business:
1. Product Development
Big data can help you develop products that better suit consumer needs. In the end, sales can be further increased.
For example, your products that have economical packaging are more in demand. Then, you can produce more of these products.
Conversely, if a product has menager sales, you can analyze the cause from the existing data. Then, it can decide whether to repair it or stop production.
2. Business Innovation Opportunities Are More Open
With big data, you can identify consumer interest trends. It can be based on the product type or the number of product transactions.
Then, you can innovate new products according to trends that are easier to attract many consumers. It could also be in the form of implementing a new system that supports product sales.
For example, many consumers like to use transfers and credit cards for shopping. That is, the ease of payment is highly desired by consumers when visiting an online store.
You can work around this as a business owner by providing cashless payment methods on your online shop website, such as credit cards or e-wallets.
3. Data Manipulation Risks Can Be Avoided
Big data also has a stake in terms of security. With the amount of data available, you can identify unusual data patterns that can be detrimental to business.
A simple example is if an expenditure figure for buying raw materials is more significant than it should be.
You can use big data to get information quickly, whether there is a price increase or an increase in the number of raw materials purchased.
This is important to prevent data manipulation because all data has been recorded and can be accessed easily and quickly.
4. Can Design a More User-Friendly UX
Consumer interaction through applications, web apps, or websites determines the level of product sales. If the flow could be more precise, it could result in small conversions.
Well, big data can help you by storing consumer shopping history. Then, you can analyze the data to make interactions on the website more enjoyable.
For example, many consumers leave the website on product pages. So, you can study the page’s quality, both from appearance, speed, and navigation.
Furthermore, you can improve its appearance and speed to make the consumer shopping process faster and easier.
What is Big Data: Characteristics
The striking difference between big data and ordinary databases consists of the volume, speed, and data types that are more varied than the Database Management System (DBMS) in general.
Big data’s definition can be further divided into five characteristics known as 5V. Well, here is the explanation.
1. Volumes
Big data has a huge data capacity. Processing extensive data is very possible to run.
2. Velocity
Offsetting the large size, data transfer speed is also very stable and effective. Even big data can receive data in real-time or directly because the rate is so high.
This high speed is achieved because data is directed directly to memory instead of storing it on a disk.
3. Variety
Big data has more data variations when compared to database systems such as SQL. Types of data that can be stored include traditional, unstructured, and unstructured.
Video, audio, and text include data that must go through several stages before it can be processed in a database. The reason is these incoming data have yet to be defined directly.
4. Values
In big data, data flow is irregular and consistent over several periods and conditions. If there is a significant data spike, the memory resources used for processing will also be more important.
5. Veracity
While veracity is a form of data justification. Data needs to be checked for quality through various sources. Connecting between the data required for the process. If there is no reasonable relationship, it can trigger control that is out of control.
Big Data Applications
After you understand big data and its functions, here are some examples of its implementation or application.
1. Internet
Almost everyone, including you, is connected to the internet nearly daily. Practically every day, you must use Google to do various information searches. The search results in data that you get are stored and included in Google’s big data.
2. Smartphones
The smartphone you always use stores data such as phone history and location. Well, the cellphone you use every day has a large volume of data without realizing it.
3. Social media
All information and data uploaded to social media in text, images, video, audio, etc., are stored by social media companies. So, all uploads on social media are included in big data.