Extracted from a report by Harvard Business Review Analytics Services
According to one study, the world used over 2.8 zettabytes of data in 2012. This is more than anything we have ever known, and it will only become more voluminous over time. And yet in a 2013 survey of Harvard Business Review readers many said they were familiar with the concept of big data, but only 28 percent said that their organisation was “currently using big data to make better business decisions or create new business opportunities.” And only 3 percent, strongly agreed with the statement “my organisation knows how to apply big data to our business.”
To manage and take advantage of big data requires organisations to analyse it and convert it into insights, innovations, and business value. The same study suggests that only half of 1 percent of the 2.8 zettabytes is analysed in any way, suggesting that we have a huge task ahead of us to start getting value from it.
So what opportunities for growth and competitor advantage does effective use of big data deliver?
The environment we’re entering now is a blend of big data and analytics that yields insights and offerings with speed and impact. The real win for businesses comes when companies can combine and analyse structured data from their enterprise applications with unstructured Web data and data from public or subscription sources. And that means companies will need to have both the analytic tools and the people with a new set of analytics skill to take full advantage of the data flow and make the most of predictive analytics. They will also need to react quickly; in addition to deploying the new technologies and tools that measure the information, organisations will need to deploy new channels for decision-making that enable fast and agile responses to customer information.
Big data and analytics offers the promise to transform risk management and decision-making, providing more information and more speed. As the volume and variety of data increase at a rapid pace, the ability to successfully analyse the relevant data becomes increasingly important in order to unlock its significant value and transform the way businesses and consumers interact.
Big data means big opportunity for businesses and consumers. For businesses, big data offers an opportunity to get a deeper understanding of their customers’ attitudes, preferences, and behaviours and make every interaction more relevant, timely, secure, and profitable. For consumers, it is an opportunity to receive greater value through faster, more relevant, and personalised services from their banks, retailers, and other businesses.
There are many new vendors who can process, manage, and aggregate big data, but the key is to find the right partner who can identify and connect the relevant data to analyse and turn it into meaningful, actionable insights.
As a trusted, proven expert in data and predictive analytics for over thirty-five years, Experian has partnered with clients to provide insight from data and to turn this insight into meaningful business decisions that foster sustainable growth. We work with clients across industries and markets to create and implement analytics-based customer strategies and marketing campaigns that can be quickly and easily deployed across all of the appropriate channels.
One of the most compelling examples of how big data and analytics can help businesses and consumers is in the area of fraud prevention. Take credit card fraud as an example. As fraudsters continue to evolve their credit card fraud schemes, card issuers and merchants can rely on new types of data sources, such as device information, transaction data, and consumer behaviour data, to better manage fraud risk and increase consumer confidence that their purchases are safe and secure, which, in turn, drives increased revenues.
So it is clear that the exponential volume of available data presents a variety of challenges for organisations, yet there are huge gains to be had by leveraging the opportunities to deliver cost reductions, decision improvements, and improvements to products and services.
At Experian, we believe a tremendous win-win for consumers and businesses will come from big data. As the leading global information services company providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, market across channels, and automate decisions, we are uniquely positioned to help consumers and businesses interact in trusted and more meaningful ways.
To read the full report from the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, click here…