Why Big Data Is a Big Deal

 

Spend enough time in a business gathering and you’re bound to hear someone mention big data. After all, it has revolutionized how businesses look at and manage information.

Big data has a name which is pretty self-explanatory, and the massive amount of information it refers to means companies have the opportunity to look at situations in a whole new (detailed) light. This is where the analytics element comes in, allowing people and companies to find the patterns in the data and the underlying issues the data uncovers.

How important is big data analytics to the success of a company? According to a study done by the Economist Intelligence Unit, 59% of business owners considered data analytics a vital aspect of the business process and 29% considered it to be very important. When it comes to the issue of profit, 60% believe the data generates revenue and 83% say its value leads to greater profit in existing products and services.

Now, if you think big data is only a tool for large corporations, think again. Startups can—and should—use it in order to properly prepare themselves to compete in the marketplace. In fact, in some ways they will be better at using the information big data provides. For one thing, given their size, they can use their agility to their advantage, reacting to problems and implementing the solutions much quicker than a massive corporation can. They can also use big data to determine the best shipping options—a vital element for customer satisfaction.

There is another option as well: Using the big data technology to create a new service and company. ZestFinance, for example, is using big data to transform the credit industry, offering its services and technology to larger companies in order to transform consumer credit. Credit decisions are made quickly and accurately by running the necessary stats through multiple mathematical models, identifying candidates who are good borrowers and allowing the lender to offer lower-cost credit to these candidates. Zest’s knowledge and utilization of big data is why it is one of the fastest growing FinTech startups.

Used properly, big data can be a game-changing tool, a new way to see the marketplace and find improvements. It can be used by companies to improve how they work in the marketplace and it can be used to improve the services or products the startup offers. Any startup seeking to grow and eventually rule the business world should take a serious look at what it has to offer and see what they can do with the wealth of information it brings.