The effects of Big Data isn’t new to businesses, the workforce, and society as a whole. Big data has been available for several years now. However, too many companies clearly understand the advantages it provides in gaining insight, uncovering patterns for immediate actions and improving productivity.
Big data is used to refer to complex or too large data sets which can be analyzed using conventional data processing applications. Big data also means analyzing broad and complex data sets to uncover hidden information that includes industry dynamics, unknown correlations, hidden patterns, customer preference, and much more. It can also be defined as the process of gathering and analyzing the vast amount of data required for informed business decisions.
Such type of data is typically aggregated via social media networks, web browsers, geo-locations, fitness apps, text messages, and other media files. Sensors and IoT devices are some of the key drivers of big data market growth. The global big data market is expected to hit 103 billion US dollars by 2027, according to Statista. It is more than twice the projected size of the business in 2018. By 2027, the software segment is expected to become the largest big data business segment, with a 45 percent share.
While the effects of Big Data set continue to grow, companies are increasingly turning to the cloud to help manage, evaluate, and preserve big data to remain competitive, streamline processes and stay ahead of their competitors. However, Gartner’s 2016 study indicates companies are moving from big data to the issues it can solve. This is because companies have recognized that the concept of big data is not only about a particular technology, but about the business problem that it can solve and that its effectiveness relies on a comprehensive approach based on data and infrastructure, business results, and skilled people.
Effect of Big Data on the workforce, business, and society
Big data provides limitless opportunities; its impact can be felt through all sectors of the economy.
Effects of Big Data on Business: While global data continues to expand, organizations are also searching for new ways to leverage these data while staying competitive and making informed business decisions. One of the big data’s major impacts on business is the increasing amount of data produced as a result of increased internet dependence and advances in technology. In fact, a Seagate IDC study predicts that 175 zettabytes will enter the global data sphere by 2025.
Big data also offers fast and actionable insight into the data that help businesses make educated decisions. Through using analytical data systems, businesses are able to develop their processes, automate activities, remain competitive and build more cases for big data use. In addition, the issue of data privacy and security, which is triggered by cyberattack, security skill gap, and inconsistent adherence to security standards, is a major challenge faced by organizations due to big data. Although governments are now implementing guidelines to avoid cyber-attacks and help organizations secure information about their customers. Other large organizations involved in maintaining their reputations have put in place the right measures to improve the privacy of consumers and to reduce cyber-attacks.
Effect on Workforce: Big data not only impacts the business world but it also has tremendous effects on the workforce of today. At the moment, too many companies rely on the internet to communicate, make sales and improve engagement with their customers. There’s a need to employ the services of professional data scientists to monitor the huge data set generated on the internet. There are already so many institutions and online courses that offer big data certifications. That is due to the rise in demand for data scientists, which, according to an Indeed.com survey, is projected to increase by 16 percent by 2028.
There’s actually a skill gap created by the shortage of data scientists. Organizations face a shortage of skilled candidates; because of this the analytics position remains vacant in too many organizations. This is also anticipated that more businesses will suffer from this void in the future, where there will be too much unstructured data to handle, new applications, and technology to address. Despite this, organizations are restrategizing and focusing increasingly on RPA and physical robots to accomplish routine tasks such as data sourcing and cleanup. At the same time, the few professionals available are interested in interpreting the data and making informed business decisions.
Impact on Society
The effect on society of big data is endless. The use of big data in the manufacturing sector has contributed to an increase in industrial automation and the use of robotics for creating smarter and more efficient machines. Today robots are no longer limited to a single and repetitive or tedious task; they can function freely in an unstructured world and work closely with humans. Big data has also changed how customer information is handled in the health sector, resulting in better security and privacy. Certain sectors which have seen a dramatic shift due to the emergence of big data include, among many others, the financial sector, the retail industry, aviation and the transport sector.
Conclusion
Finally, big data is also the enterprise’s future; it offers companies countless chances to outperform their peers. The use of big data would also lead to a rise in more work categories, new regulatory systems and standards and a change from data generation to the use of actionable data in gaining insight by organizations.
It is also important to remember each company has its own particular need and needs a different approach to big data. Therefore companies can save money, optimize processes, streamline operations, add market value and stand out from their rivals by making the best use of these infinite possibilities provided by big data.
