There is no doubt that new technologies are transforming all social fields. Companies are not oblivious to this transformation to the point that there is talk of a new industrial revolution, 4.0.
In this context, new tools are emerging that take advantage of the possibilities provided by these information technologies. Among them, two of the best known are Big Data and Business Intelligence, increasingly present in the business world.
Both Big Data and Business Intelligence solutions make it possible to analyze data to improve the lines of action of companies. Although they have been present for a few years, it is now that they are developing their potential much better.
What is big data?
Big Data is the logical consequence of the expansion of digital technology. At present, we have gone from having only desktop computers to individuals having several devices, from laptops to smartphones, through tablets, and the Internet of Things.
All these devices have something in common: they generate such an abundance of data that they have made it necessary to develop new methods to manage and use them.
Every time we use one of those devices, we are generating information. In addition, the machines communicate with each other, exchanging different data.
The Big Data was born, precisely, to be able to store and treat that increasing amount of information. It is, in a very short way, a methodology that not only stores but also helps to process these data, structured or semi-structured, so that they are subsequently analyzed and used accordingly.
What is Big Data used for in companies
As we have seen, when we talk about Big Data, we do not only refer to stored data. Actually, we are referring to the ability to use them to extract information that is beneficial to app development companies.
The purpose of Big Data is, therefore, to facilitate the analysis of business reality. This will allow us, for example, to design new products and services, taking as reference the information obtained about customers, the competition or the market in general.
After obtaining the data and storing it, company managers can extract useful indicators to make decisions, even in real-time.
Given the amount of information produced, possessing adequate technology is not enough in order to perform these analyses. It is essential to know how to detect patterns, in addition to having the appropriate training to deduce the trends that reflect those patterns.
Benefits of Big Data for companies
– Decision making: to make decisions, it is essential to have accurate and updated data. Big Data provides data in real-time, so it gives the company in question a great competitive advantage.
– Customer loyalty: Big Data offers information about users, collected through the so-called fingerprint. This provides a real photograph of the tastes, needs, and habits of users, allowing the company to customize its products and anticipate demand.
– Cost reduction: thanks to the information it provides, Big Data is a perfect tool to accelerate the speed of product development. In the end, this results in a reduction in costs, one of the keys to success in a market as competitive as the current one.
– Security: Last but not least, Big Data offers solutions to detect and correct possible security breaches in databases, one of the biggest problems of total computerization.
What is a business intelligence (BI)?
It is a tool for transforming data into information and then that information into knowledge using various methodologies. The objective of this process is to optimize the decision making of the company to the maximum since the acquired knowledge can be used to develop strategic or commercial plans.
Categories of Business Intelligence solutions
Data Management Tools: are those that allow debugging and standardizing the data, regardless of its origin, to its extraction, transformation, and transfer to a particular system.
Data Discovery Applications: These collect and evaluate the new information obtained through data mining. Once this process is done, you can use predictive analysis techniques to obtain future projections.
Reporting tools: with all the information collected and processed, these tools are presented graphically and intuitively, facilitating their use by the company.
What Business Intelligence is used for in companies
The benefits obtained by companies that use Business Intelligence range from the optimization of their resources to the improvement of the ability to make decisions, through the control that the company’s objectives are being met properly.
In this way, the BI becomes a strategic factor of the organization, offering answers to questions that may arise. Thanks to the treatment and analysis of the information, it is possible to control the finances and optimize the costs, as well as obtain an analysis of the client profile.
The competitive advantage it represents is evident: that information obtained will allow production planning or profitability that is more adjusted to reality.
Differences between Business intelligence vs. Big Data
On many occasions, both concepts tend to be confused. However, although both are used to optimize the operation of the company by treating large amounts of information, there are important differences between them.
Big data
– Big Data allows you to analyze a very large volume of data, regardless of whether they are structured or unstructured.
– Get data from the entire network.
– It uses a distributed file system to store the data.
– The information can be analyzed through history or choose the real-time mode.
– Great ability to perform massive analyzes in parallel.
Business intelligence
– The BI focuses solely on the structured ones that are stored in a traditional database.
– Use the data generated inside the company.
– The BI uses a central server for the storage of information.
– The analysis process is slower.
