What Is Big Data In 60 Seconds?
2 July 2021
The term “Big Data” may have been around for some time now, but there is still quite a lot of confusion about what it actually means. In truth, the concept is continually evolving and being reconsidered, as it remains the driving force behind many ongoing waves of digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, data science and the Internet of Things. But what exactly is Big Data and how is it changing our world?
How does Big Data work?
Big Data works on the principle that the more you know about anything or any situation, the more reliably you can gain new insights and make predictions about what will happen in the future. By comparing more data points, relationships begin to emerge that were previously hidden, and these relationships enable us to learn and make smarter decisions. Most commonly, this is done through a process that involves building models, based on the data we can collect, and then running simulations, tweaking the value of data points each time and monitoring how it impacts our results. This process is automated – today’s advanced analytics technology will run millions of these simulations, tweaking all the possible variables until it finds a pattern – or an insight – that helps solve the problem it is working on.
Until relatively recently, data was limited to spreadsheets or databases – and it was all very ordered and neat. Anything that wasn’t easily organised into rows and columns was simply too difficult to work with and was ignored. Now though, advances in storage and analytics mean that we can capture, store and work with many, many different types of data. As a result, “data” can now mean anything from databases to photos, videos, sound recordings, written text and sensor data.
To make sense of all of this messy data, Big Data projects often use cutting-edge analytics involving artificial intelligence and machine learning. By teaching computers to identify what this data represents– through image recognition or natural language processing, for example – they can learn to spot patterns much more quickly and reliably than humans.
If you would like to know more about , check out my articles on:
- The Important Difference Between Augmented Reality And Mixed Reality
- 5 Important Augmented And Virtual Reality Trends For 2019 Everyone Should Read
- 9 Powerful Real-World Applications Of Augmented Reality (AR) Today
Or browse the Augmented, Virtual & Mixed Reality to find the metrics that matter most to you.
Related Articles
Google’s New Performance Management Update
American companies are in the midst of dealing with what has been dubbed “The Great Resignation,” an exodus of employees seeking higher pay[...]
What You Need To Know Before You Start Working With Artificial Intelligence
It seems like everyone is talking about artificial intelligence at the moment, and there’s good reason for that. We are seeing its revolutionary impact across just about every industry.[...]
Why Is Data Governance So Important To Every Organisation?
In business today, data is understood to be the key to improving every aspect of how we plan, administer, design, build, sell and look after our customers.[...]
Why External Data Is So Important For Every Business
Internal data is often the first place that companies look when they start to think about analytics and insights.[...]
How To Make Money From Data: The Essential Data Monetization Tips
Data has become the main raw material of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and making money from data has become a huge business opportunity.[...]
Is Space The Next Frontier For Agriculture And Biology?
Space exploration is very much in vogue again in recent years thanks to the exploits of billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.[...]
Stay up-to-date
- Get updates straight to your inbox
- Join my 1 million newsletter subscribers
- Never miss any new content
Social Media