Big data : a new era in business and I.T

Abstract

A new era in business and I.T has begun - Big Data is revolutionising the way business decisions are being made. Big Data is not only affecting the I.T industry but is playing an important role in various industries such as healthcare, retail, banking. Social media is one major aspect which is influencing the exponential growth of data. In the past, most companies were internally-generated data driven, however that is changing and with the introduction of modern technologies, industries are extracting and analysing external data. Businesses which do not intend to utilise Big Data are risking being left behind by their companies. Companies are making use of Big Data through the use of third party software such as Google Analytics and Facebook Analytics. However, these businesses are limiting themselves to what extent data can be analysed. Adopting a more hands-on approach in utilising Big Data is opening up the door to the endless types of analysis which could be carried out on the external data such as sentimental analysis, geographical analysis, competitive analysis. The objective of this research study was to gain a better understanding how Big Data is being utilised among different types of industries through the use of qualitative interviews. Furthermore, the challenges to why companies are discouraged from taking a hands-on approach in Big Data were identified. The challenges identified from the qualitative research were addressed through the use of a prototype. The prototype aimed to disprove the challenges industries are facing in the world of Big Data. The concept of the prototype was to extract data from the Twitter social media platform, structure the data and perform three different types of analysis; Sentimental analysis, Geographical Analysis and Competitive analysis.