Dave Hayes

Big Data: Focusing On the Future. Dave Hayes.

          The Knowledge pyramid is rather vague: data (discrete elements), information (linked elements), knowledge (organized information), and wisdom (Applied Knowledge), though it is a foundation for understanding and increasing organization.  At the most basic level, data is the most unorganized; though it is the most important.  Imagine if a business had an endless amount of data to organize, well inevitably they will attain endless information, knowledge, and wisdom.  Imagine if this business had access to 1.8 zettabytes of data, this would provide incredible insight.  Due to big data, this is no longer just an imagination.

           Big data, in a nutshell, is all of the discrete elements ever digitalized and these 1.8 zettabytes of data is only the digitalized discrete elements from 2011.  With the recent social media and cloud storage boom, sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google provide free services in exchange for all of their user’s data.  They sell access to all of this data to businesses like Wall-Mart, Target, and Dunkin Doughnuts.  These businesses, through the insight they gain from analyzing and processing all of this data, turn this data into information allowing them to market their products better to their customers.  Furthermore, these companies can continually manage this information with analytical software gaining knowledge that will allow them to spot trends in advertising, products, and locations.

          This new breakthrough in Data Analytics has a powerful correlation to what we have been studying in MIS2502 (Data Analytics).  Now, a business is not limited to the data they collect through their personal transactional data bases.  Also there is access to new software from SAS and other analytical software developers that provide the ability to access uncategorized subsets of Big Data and categorize them to facilitate analytical needs.  Furthur, This data can be used in cluster mining to spot huge trends in customer activity

          Today, Big Data is used in many different business sectors.  Undoubtedly, the most beneficial is in the Health Care sector.  Here, companies, such as SeeChange Health and Explorys, use Big Data to enhance healthcare practices and plans.  The most interesting is the analytics of Big Data from Explorys, this firm analysis these large amounts of data to tract side effects and outcomes of varies treatments in order to get a better grasp on proper practices.  The mining of data for this purpose can lower costs considerably while strengthening patient care.

Works Cited.

“5 companies using big data to solve healthcare problems.” Med City, Brandon Glenn, Med City. April 7, 12.

“Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity.” McKinsey Global Institute, James Manyika,          Michael Chui, Brad Brown, Jacques Bughin, Richard Dobbs, Charles Roxburgh, Angela Hung Byers. April 2, 2012.

“How ‘Big Data’ will blow your mind and change the 21st Century.” Fox News, James P. Pinkerton, Fox News.com, April 4, 2012.