Submitted by Jesse Cruz on Thursday, April 26, 2018 - 03:45.
Is it true that big data is the new agenda for corporations around the world?
Yes, businesses around the world are scrambling to figure out what the starting point for their data-driven framework should be. An estimate for the coming two years is that more than 70% of organizations all around the world will be spending a huge chunk of their budget on big data. What’s concerning is that only a small 29% of businesses are obtaining any value from the data they have.
The Effect Of The Big Data
The effects of the big data are widespread. You would be wrong to say that it has a role to play in marketing only. Here are only some of the areas where big data can have great impact.
- Sales
- Marketing
- Decision Making
- Learning
- Forecasting
- Security
The possibilities of how you use big data are unlimited. Take the example of Costco, an internationally known membership-based warehouse club, which, in 2010, helped identify the cause of salmonella outbreak to CDC (Centers for Disease Control). The company even used big data to its advantage to “specifically” stop certain customers from buying fruits that could contain listeria contamination.
However, you can only witness the impact of big data when you have the right strategy in place. Leading the DBS Bank’s Big Data Analytics Center of Excellence as a data science head, Johnson Poh, says that to have a team and leading executive with hands-on experience of big data management is integral to a successful data-driven framework at an organization.
The Steps to Implementing Data-Driven Strategy
Here are the five major steps that will lay the foundation for a successful big data strategy at your organization.
- Step 1: Plan the Big Change
It all starts with proper planning. Get your leaders in one place, gather knowledge of your business, understand your needs, narrow down your options and set a deadline to take the initiative.
- Step 2: Hire the Right People
Get a chief data officer on board as the first step to implementing a big data strategy. If you are a small or medium-sized business with a limited budget, Cruz Street Media’s on-demand chief data officer is the solution for you.
- Step 3: Be Wary of Compliance with Regulations
Do not skip compliance to regulations in an attempt to leverage your big data. Be sure that your usage of consumer data complies with the major privacy protection regulations for consumers such as GDPR and HIPAA.
- Step 4: Embrace the Framework and the Big Data Technology
Your CDO will be quite busy during these initial phases because your existing IT framework needs an overhaul. The CDO will work with the team of professionals to pick the best big data management solutions that are fit for your organization.
There are many platforms to choose from such as Informatica, SAS, IBM Infosphere, Skytree, Pentaho, Tableau, Highcharts, etc. You have to embrace the technology that guarantee is 100% integration onto your system.
- Step 5: Measure and Improve
The chief data officer, data analyst, data scientist, etc. are the components of your big data team—a team completely dedicated to managing big data and pushing your business beyond boundaries based on the power of it. Implement the methods, hardware and software technology to keep improving your big data strategy.
Conclusion
The world has realized the importance of artificial intelligence in the coming times, and how proper use of this technology will give businesses a competitive edge over others. However, artificial intelligence is a dependent technology that draws its power from big data.
The next big step for your organization should be to make data the center of your marketing, decision making, sales, security and what not. Yes, cost management can be a big hurdle in your way, but the on-demand CDO solution from Cruz Street Digital is just the answer to that problem.
