The New Frontier of Big Data

Whenever people used to talk about ‘data,’ the image that came to mind was of numbers, mindless information that wouldn’t make much sense to the average person. Data entry jobs were considered a last resort, entry level work just to get your foot in the door of a major company. Yet the tides are changing and data has become an integral part of success for individuals, governments, and organisations around the world.

This new tidal wave is known as Big Data.

Data has expanded at an exponential rate in recent years, so much so that it is like the glaciers that rolled down over the northern hemisphere during the Ice Age. We’re watching this intense mass cutting through our lives, inching slowly over the bulk of our existence.

Even though the term ‘Big Data’ is becoming more and more commonplace these days, organisations and companies are struggling to decide what to do with it all and how to handle it. Business expert IBM states that, “Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data –so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years.” To put that in perspective, 90% of all of the data in the world has been created in the last 0.0002% of civilization’s existence.

Reasons for the Massive Amount of Data

One of the key reasons for the sudden explosion in data is that it is easier than ever to collect it. As technology continues its forward march, more and more people are willing to hand over data (for making purchases, signing up on email lists, getting information, etc). On top of that, storing data is now cheaper than ever.

Some people make a big deal about the data that is stored about them, but they are few and far between.

A Powerful Resource

Data of any kind has always been a valuable resource but today it has become exceedingly powerful. Data allows organisations, businesses, and government agencies to gather a great deal of information about different target markets. The choices that we make, the products we prefer, and even our behaviours are laid out in fields of data.

Government’s use data to dictate policy and craft legislation Companies use data to refine their marketing practices to reach the highest levels of visibility, maximizing their ROI (Return On Investment). Sports teams use data to help determine the best athletes to choose for their rosters.

The Perception of Big Data

For individuals, all of this personal information that is being collected can be unnerving, like that glacier gradually bearing down on their homes. For organisations, it’s a massive wealth of valuable insight.

However, companies need to be able to manage the immense amount of data that is collected regularly. To be able to organise it and sift through it requires more technology or know-how than most companies currently possess. By 2018, according to a McKinsey report, the US alone will have a shortfall of 190,000 people who possess the right skills to manage all of that data.

Governments and educational institutions need to step up and provide the right level of instruction and motivation to fill these coming gaps. Big Data is the newest frontier in human evolution and what is collected is just as important as how it’s used.