Big Data

There are massive amounts of information waiting to be explored. Big data is a popular yet complex evolving term that describes large amounts of data and datasets both structured (i.e web applications and social networks)  and unstructured ( i.e Metadata ,Twitter tweets, and social media posts )  that is fairly difficult to review, process, and analyze using traditional outlets such as software and databases (Beal, 2015). When analyzed, it can decipher various patterns and trends with data which can tremendously improve overall decision making of people and companies.  Big data has become increasingly important to companies because it can create competitive advantage between competing firms which can therefore increase employee productivity and create value to a company.

Big data relates to the various advanced analytics topics that we have covered in MIS 2502. Big data can be analyzed with advanced analytics topics such as predictive analysis and data mining.  Predictive analysis and data mining help to explore large amounts of data such as big data. With predictive analysis and data mining tools, big data can uncover various market trends and customer preferences with relation to customers buying patterns with products. Because of this, the information found through these tools can increase revenue with companies, increase customer service with customers, and improve overall efficiency of a company (Rouse, 2014).

Big data has been applied in many ways. One of the biggest ways it has been applied is by examining customers and their preferences when buying different products. For example, big data can help retail companies know which items sell as well as which items are bought together. Another way big data is applied is through security and law enforcement. Big data has heavily improved security and enabled law enforcement. For example, the National Security Agency (NSA) has used big data to track terrorist plots (Marr, 2013). Other techniques have used big data to track and prevent cyber-attacks from occurring; and police use big data to catch criminals and prevent and predict the occurrence of future criminal activity (Marr, 2013).

Works Cited

Beal, Vangie. “Big Data.” What Is Big Data? Webopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.             <http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/big_data.html>.

Marr, Bernard. LinkedIn. N.p., 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fpulse%2F20131113065157-64875646-the-           awesome-ways-big-data-is-used-today-to-change-our-world>.

Rouse, Magaret. “What Is Big Data Analytics? -.” SearchBusinessAnalytics. N.p., Oct. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/definition/big-data-        analytics>.

“What Is Data Mining (Predictive Analytics, Big Data).” What Is Data Mining, Predictive  Analytics, Big Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/data-mining-techniques>.