Big Data Consulting – What Business Advantages Can it Provide?

Over the past decade, Big Data has been universally recognized as a valuable source of information for companies, helping to discover strengths and weaknesses and improve corporate processes. Data analysis enables clients to make critical business choices, develop forecasts and achieve long-term planning.  

In the  words of Mike Gualtieri, VP, Forrester Principal Analyst:

Big Data is the frontier of a firm’s ability to store, process, and access all the data it needs to operate effectively, make decisions, reduce risks, and serve customers.

What advantages can Big Data analytics provide you, and what kind of Big Data solutions can help run your business? 

Why Big Data analysis is a must-have in this day and age

Companies are looking to leverage large data sets to gain a competitive advantage, just as large enterprises like Amazon, Netflix and Google do. Even the most straightforward actions, such as visiting a website, clicking the cursor and scrolling a page provide data to a site’s owner. Companies then use such information to get ahead of the competition, by shifting Key Performance Indicators or pivoting their business direction.  

If you can use ‘trivial’ information in such a way, consider what can be done with financial and personal information. Once you lean into this, you can undoubtedly see how relevant the concept of Big Data consulting is. Today, Big Data consulting firms and specialists are highly valued, and their service is part of every major company. 

What can an enterprise gain by using Big Data management consulting?

Do you collect a lot of data from your customers at every opportunity because it might come in handy someday? You have hundreds, thousands of tables and rows in your company databases, but you don’t know what to do with them. Would you like to eliminate some of them and start analyzing the most relevant ones but don’t know how to go about them? If you answer ‘yes’ to these questions, you should consider taking advantage of the experience of consulting companies that specialize in the field of Big Data. They have the necessary knowledge and tools to gather data, organize it, draw conclusions from it and visualize it so that you can operationalize it. Big Data solutions might seem expensive, but they will save you money and elevate your organization over time. Also, remember that if you haven’t started yet, your competitors have already launched Big Data initiatives and are already one step ahead.

Read also: Machine Learning in Marketing

What will a Big Data consultant do for you?

After choosing a Big Data consulting partner, you will have to fill out a questionnaire covering topics such as the architecture of your databases, development priorities, technical and process and industry details. Big Data specialists have a range of competencies to help your company identify critical areas of the business and solve problems. However, the most significant support comes from collecting, processing and analyzing data, as this will help you navigate the demanding market for services and goods. 

How Big Data solutions can grow your business

For companies looking to the future, not just surviving from one quarterly earnings meeting to the next, Big Data specialists are invaluable. Here are some of the key advantages of applying Big Data solutions: 

Cost reduction 

The key to managing company expenses is to reign them in. The more money your company or department wants to keep, the more cost-efficient it needs to be, especially in the current economic climate. Careful research based on facts and data will give you information on which branches are the most cost-efficient and which one generates unnecessary expenditures.  

Customer acquisition and retention  

Thanks to Big Data, companies can identify what customers are looking for even before they themselves know it, by observing and analyzing buying patterns.  By implementing a data-driven approach, brands can strengthen loyalty and identify more trends, thus raising customer satisfaction level, and subconsciously presenting them with products and services only Big Data analytics knew they wanted.   

Big Data analytics and objective conclusions 

Based on processed data and collected analysis, Big Data specialists present companies with facts and conclusions drawn from up to date information. The analytical models used by Big Data consultants are based on machine learning, cloud computing solutions and artificial intelligence. The latest technologies to support data analysis make it as reliable, unbiased, secure and tailored to your specific needs as possible. If the necessity arises, Big Data specialists will help you create appropriate dashboards that clearly present the state of your company to rank-and-file employees and management. 

Pragmatic application of Big Data solutions

In certain industries, data analysis can bring additional benefits and help clarify the specifics of a particular business unit, workplace or company as a whole. There are many sectors that can benefit from Big Data consulting services, here are some examples 

Agriculture 

Processing data such as soil condition, humidity, weather forecast, air temperature, crop condition, or the possibility of pest attack is invaluable for large-scale crop enterprises. Agricultural machinery, equipped with computers and a host of sensors, makes it easy to maintain fields in proper condition, helps to monitor the state of the technology used in the agricultural process, detects failures and even synchronizes with other types of machinery in the immediate area. 

E-commerce and retail 

Retail websites monitor how customers interact with their pages, where their cursors and gazes wander, creating so-called heat maps based on that information and then adjusting the web portal’s appearance to present the most favorable offers and promotions in these places. Thanks to harnessing Big Data’s power and analyzing the gathered information, retailers can match their offers with customers’ expectations. 

Healthcare  

IoT and Big Data have already become a commodity in wearable devices such as smartwatches that monitor people’s health 24/7, so imagine what they are able to deliver in professional medical care. Not only can technology track a patient’s current health status but can also predict future ailments. Modern technologies make it possible to prioritize patients, monitor their care and predict who might become more seriously ill, ensuring better administration of facilities along the way. 

Smart cities 

The constant influx of people from smaller towns and the country to large cities, while urban infrastructure development is stagnant or too slow, results in longer commutes and more traffic jams. Smart cities, aided by Big Data services like machine learning and AI, along with appropriate sensors and a combined information system, can predict and solve problems related to traffic congestion, emergency breakdowns, car accidents, or streetcar derailments. Drivers using smartphones can receive information about obstructions and suggested detours within seconds. 

Banking and finance 

Real-world use of big data in financial services allows personalizing the offer of loans, credit cards, and other banking products to your needs and capabilities.  Customers can carry out a wide variety of tasks independently, thereby avoiding paperwork, queues and delays. Using a laptop or smartphone and Internet connection helps users make the necessary steps, and an application’s intuitive UX and customer-centric interface guides users step by step. Customers can make use of effective self-service processes to save time, speed up procedures and gain access to the information they need. 

In today’s business environment, Big Data is imperative

The sectors above are not the only examples of big data transformations. High-tech, investment, construction, entertainment, manufacturing and marketing – only to mention a few. As IBM big data experts put it in Analytics: The Real-World Use of Big Data report:

Big data is no longer confined to the realm of technology. Today, it is a business imperative and is providing solutions to long-standing business challenges.  

If you’d like to know more about Big Data management consulting and other technologies that can help grow your business, get in touch by using this contact form – Software Mind’s experts are standing by to help you develop tailor-made solutions.