More businesses are beginning to realize the value that big data analytics can provide, according to ParStream, a provider of a real-time database for big data analytics. In 2014, 'fast data'- which enables companies to make real-time, fact-based decisions by using historical and live data to improve the way they run their business, deliver solutions, and engage with customers - will become the factor that separates inexperienced big data solution providers from established ones.
ParStream, a provider of a real-time database for big data analytics, has identified five trends that will impact the big data market in 2014.
According to Michael Hummel, co-founder and CEO of ParStream, the number of use cases and unique applications is increasing and more businesses are beginning to realize the value that big data analytics can provide. “Big data analytics is a vital resource to help companies innovate, provide better customer experiences, and develop new sources of revenue,” he said.
Here are the five issues that ParStream has identified as having the most significant impact on the big data market in 2014:
- Companies will act on the data they have now.Companies will begin to understand the value of real-time analytics and recognize that they need to do something with the data that they already have and that they continue to generate and collect. According to ParStream, in 2014, “big data” as a concept will continue to be significant but the new strategic focus will be on fast data - deriving insights and actionable intelligence from real-time data analytics on data from all sources as it’s being generated.Advanced technological capabilities at lower costs will empower more businesses to see the insights that their data holds. Recognizing these benefits will push businesses to apply real-time analytics to their readily-available data to make quick decisions based on facts instead of continuing to collect and store massive amounts of data without acting on it.
- Fast data will become critical. Fast data will become the factor that separates inexperienced big data solution providers from established ones. In today’s business ecosystem, large amounts of data are being generated each second, and seconds-old data is considered outdated. Fast data enables companies to make real-time, fact-based decisions by using historical and live data to improve the way they run their business, deliver solutions, and engage with customers. Innovation may be possible without fast data, but real-time analytics greatly expedites the process. In 2014, the goal of organizational innovation will drive fast data to become the norm, compelling businesses to demand minimal time-to-insight, to the point of expecting ultra-fast, sub-second responses on terabytes and billions of rows of data.
- Real-time big data analytics will become a necessity. In 2014, most businesses will realize that in order to establish or maintain a competitive advantage, they must go beyond simply observing the big data playing field to actually playing the game. As more companies begin to have a solid grasp on the use cases and benefits of real-time analytics, they will begin to deploy and incorporate big data strategies into their day-to-day business functions in order to make intelligent decisions and remain ahead of competition.
- Speed and scalability will become the main criteria by which companies evaluate big data solutions. According to ParStream, experts have estimated that the world today possesses about 1.8 zettabytes or 1.8 billion terabytes of data and it's predicted that the amount of global data is going to increase by 50% year-over-year. Most of today's big data analytic platforms were not created to handle tomorrow's data capacity. Those which can handle substantial amounts of data were developed to manage the amount of data growth only in the short term. In conjunction with the need for speed, companies will begin to realize that for them to secure the optimal return on their big data investments, they also need to push scalability to the top of their priorities in order to be able to adapt to the data volumes of tomorrow.
- Decentralized databases will become the new normal. Today's data is widely distributed among numerous sources. In 2014, more analytic platforms will have the capability to analyze data at its source. Understanding the cost benefits and efficiency of analyzing data where it is, companies will begin to make a conscious effort to consider and migrate towards big data solutions with this capability.
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