What is the hype around Big Data?

In the early 90s, most people would look puzzled when early adopters of the internet could not stop going gaga over the advent of technology. But ever since the dotcom buzz entered our lives, the blitzkrieg of new technology hasn’t ceased. Netizens are always on a lookout for the new and interesting, the next big thing being Big Data. We are now in the ‘Big Data’ age, where everyone is fascinated by words like Hadoop, Analytics and the buzzword, Big Data! But what is the hype really all about? Let us have a look.

The Big Data Bang!

Source: http://www.emc.com/leadership/digital-universe/2014iview/executive-summary.html

Quite like the Big Bang, a catastrophic explosion that led to the creation of the universe, technology today is dealing with something similar; the explosion and rapid expansion of data. By 2020, we’ll have as many bits of data as there are stars in the universe i.e. about 44 zettabytes of data. Data is doubling in size every two years and the growth rates will continue for the years to come.

However, to most enterprises, especially those in the IT, Finance and Manufacturing sector, this is nothing new! Organizations have been struggling to work with extremely large amounts of data sets, and failing in doing so in most cases. Incapable legacy systems and the rising data volumes left a huge void for a new solution to address the issue; a space Big Data very easily seems to have captured.

Big Data eliminates the burden of structure definition and enables cost-effective storage. Its distributed computation software framework provides the performance expected of a modern platform, representing a new way to interact and leverage with data.

The growing importance of data

Data when processed becomes information,

Information when analyzed becomes knowledge,

Knowledge when applied becomes intelligence,

Intelligence is what makes you smart!

Data is the new goldmine, but only if it is harnessed smartly. It is not just the exponential rise in data that has many reeling over the consequences, the major problem lies in the inability to process it. Although the term Big Data misleads most into thinking it only handles storage and management problems, the real reason behind its tremendous success lies in Analytics. Companies can now gather and process information instantaneously and with unparalleled accuracy. A shining example of this is credit card companies. Data has always been the key to fraud detection but now this is being done in real-time, saving them billions of dollars.

Big Data Analytics has rapidly changed the way organizations are making use of their data. But once again, that is not all! Analytics not only helps in understanding data more accurately, it is also helping to generate insights from large amounts of data through visualization. Thus, it is no wonder that Big Data has made its way into the boardroom, being an effective tool to help companies strategize their decision making capabilities.

The value of Big Data comes from the knowledge gained from it, but more important is how one uses it. A holistic approach is necessary when setting up and deploying Big Data technologies in any organization, to get the right value out of it.

To sum it up, Big Data is not just hype, but an opportunity that is awaiting the right takers. Although still in its early stages, some are applying analytics, rules engines and machine learning techniques to Big Data, providing data exploration and search tools. With a different approach, the right strategy and understanding of the industry and supporting technologies to bring the concept into reality, Big Data will be the game-changer in more ways than one!

How is Hexanika leveraging Big Data?

Hexanika helps clients address challenges in regulatory reporting in a holistic way based on Big Data and Cloud technologies ensuring that the enterprises meet their compliance obligations. It provides Data integration solutions, which remain the biggest hurdle for banks to effectively cap their data analytics. The strategy centers on providing Smart Solutions towards Big Data Analytics, real-time reporting, risk management, and business and technology transformation challenges that help financial organizations thrive and succeed in changing business environment. Have a look at our solutions and products here.