You might have heard the term Big Data being used recently, but what does it mean?
If you think it sounds a bit scary, then you’re certainly not the only one – and much of the sensationalist headlines and stories around it certainly don’t help with that.
So, in this post, we will look at what Big Data is, why it matters, and why it’s not scary at all.
What is Big Data?
In simple terms, Big Data is just another way of gathering and processing information we use daily.
However, because much of this information is too large to be processed using a more traditional method. A good example of this is data processed from huge websites or social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn.
The “Big” part of the equation comes about purely to highlight the volume of data being dealt with.
Why is Big Data Important?
From a business perspective, Big Data allows organisations to gain real insight into their customer’s needs and behaviours, which then help them make better decisions regarding which products and services to offer them, contributing to an overall better customer experience.
Who Uses Big Data?
Big Data tends to have negative connotations because many people immediately think of companies like Meta collecting personal and sensitive data for advertising purposes and then selling it to third parties.
While this isn’t an unfounded concern when it comes to Facebook, there are many more ways that Big Data is being used in a helpful way.
For example, Big Data plays an important role in fields such as healthcare, finance, and transportation to ensure that the correct information is shared with the right people and that operations are running smoothly.
Big Data in Action
It’s highly likely that, without even thinking about it, you’ve come across Big Data in action either through work or even just when using the internet.
However, you might not have yet dealt with the tools used to manage and process Big Data.
As internet use continues to grow worldwide and more people conduct their daily lives through online tools and systems, the need for Big Data management will continue to evolve.
One of the biggest tools used in Big Data management and processing is BigQuery, which is owned and operated by the Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
In addition to BigQuery, GCP offers a wide selection of tools and services that can help companies and organisations of all sizes to process large amounts of data, perform complex analyses of this data, and securely store it, which then allows them to make data-driven decisions for their business and gain deep insight and understanding of their customers’ needs.
We hope that this post has given you a better understanding of Big Data and shown you that, like anything that involves personal data, there’s always room for things to go wrong and be used in a bad way, but overall, Big Data is not something to be feared and is something we all need in order to be able to carry out everyday tasks – online and offline.
