Big Data is more than just a huge volume of data, it is believed to be the right key to the business development. Let’s see what the phenomenon of “Big Data” is and why nowadays it is becoming everybody’s concern.

Small Pieces of Data Can Create Something “Big”

Within the last 20 years we have all been witness to a revolution in the field of information and communication. This revolution affects each and every aspect of our modern life, starting from the private matters of the everyday routine and finishing with literally every business sector. Information and data have become of essential importance in almost all spheres.

Sometimes the data itself may not seem even perceivable or comprehensible, but it serves as the basis for a rich variety of reports, documents and analysis. In this case, the importance of massive volumes of data, Big Data, is undeniable. Those who invent new opportunities for data capturing, data storage, data sharing and transfer, data analysis can have a new vision of their business development. Exactly, the meaning of Big Data is in the opportunity to create something absolutely new. The data collected may be used in different spheres, from retail to finance, from medicine to education, from science to security.

Big Data All Around

Everyone knows how the social networks collect the data on our likes and interests in order to show us personalized articles, goods and services that would meet our preferences. This is how a customer-oriented strategy may be realized at a new, higher level with the help of Big Data. But social networks, in this case, are just the “tip of the iceberg”. What would you say if you knew that Big Data one day could help to save your life?

In 2017, in their “Medicine Health Trends Report”, researchers from Stanford University acknowledged the power that is transforming the whole industry of health care nowadays, and this power is … data. On the surface of the Big Data use in medicine usage, there is the Medical Research sphere. By collecting and analysing data, doctors may find new causal links between diseases and their causes. Following such analysis it may become possible to find ways for treating illnesses that previously were not treatable at all.

Apart from the research, Big Data creates opportunities to improve our daily life. Various devices and mobile apps, used to measure heartbeat, pulse, blood pressure help us to control our own bodies without contact a doctor for minor reasons. Such data, however, could be of great help for doctors, too. By examining a patient for the first time, a doctor could get data from a person’s mobile app or wearable device and analyze the person’s health status. This could facilitate diagnostics and improve the quality of prescriptions given.

The use of Big Data in the medicine sphere only could create an enormous amount of business opportunities. Smart watch and bands, mobile apps creation, software development to collect and analyze the data of a person’s health status – there are a lot of opportunities for further businesses.

The use of Big Data in public transport made autonomous vehicles not just a plot of a sci-fi movie, but the reality of everyday life all over the world. Based on the collection and analysis of Big Data, the “Driverless System” is widely used in the underground networks of Rome, Turin, Copenhagen, Vancouver, Paris, Singapore, Lille, and London. Big Data helps to install enough information in autonomous trains to make them safer for everybody. Removing the element of human error can help the whole public transport sector focus on enhancing safety and customer service.

“Big Data” or “Big Brother Is Watching You”?

But together with the comfort and convenience, Big Data may also make us vulnerable. With the help of the most precise maps, our smartphones provide us with the quickest way to our destination, but at the same time they trace every step we make. Our everyday life becomes fragile and transparent for huge companies. That is why all the personal data used by these companies needs to be reliably protected. New opportunities usually create new challenges, and the companies involved into Big Data processing are already demanding new rules and new legislation for data protection and security.

Big Data changes businesses and businesses change society. We can only hope that all these changes are for the better.