Big Data
Big Data is a term that refers to data sets that are too large to be processed by traditional software or by the human brain. To process this large availability of data, multi-faceted advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence are often used. This is increasing computing power that is used in algorithms, for example, and goes far beyond human ability with respect to analyzing and interpreting.
Big data refers to information technology and management information. A big data system is a production system that collects and stores new data. This data is used primarily for analysis and not directly to create business processes. For a retailer, this may be the images from a camera system to analyze the route customers take through a store. For a multinational company, it may be communications on social media to gain insights into how the company is thought and written about. The prerequisite is that big data is digital such as audio, video, numbers and text.
Characteristics of big data
One of the main characteristics of big data is its sheer volume. This can refer to the large amount of data that organizations receive from internal sources such as the website and external sources such as social media channels.
Another characteristic feature of big data is that there is a big difference in the character of the data available. This can be explained because the available (structured- and unstructured) data often come from different sources. With the help of big data, it is possible to analyze and structure this data.
Another characteristic of big data relates to the high speed at which new data (in the form of trends, GPS data and live data about a person) is generated. Among the reasons for this can be pointed to the intensive use of social media.
Another advantage of using a big data technology is that various sources are combined with each other with the objective of arriving at the most valuable results when analyzing data. In this way, reliable information is provided. In this way, big data offers great added value to an organization. Using this type of modern analysis techniques, patterns and relationships can be established and reliable predictions can be made.
