Big Data—Not Just for Target

The world of Big Data seems intimidating and elusive—uninhabitable unless you’re a Fortune 500 company with a fortune to spend.

In actuality, small-and- medium sized companies can live in the same space as large corporations because of Big Data’s accessibility and affordability.

Big Data is simply a term that refers to data analytics—discovering patterns within large quantities of data blended with other sources such as consumer information, web analytics, surveys, etc. It gives you the tools to strategically analyze how, where, when and among whom your marketing efforts are most profitable.

In 2011, Gartner, an information technology advisory and research firm, summed up the characteristics of Big Data using what has come to be known as the “three Vs”:

1. Variety. Data comes in diverse formats.

2. Volume. Data storage is growing.

3. Velocity. Data moves in (nearly) real time.

Value lies in two prominent areas:

1. Discovery. You, a business owner, acquire insights that help you assess if and how you should be running your business differently—whether that’s marketing strategies or business practices.

2. Efficiency. If delivering a creative and strategic marketing plan—supported by pointed customer information—increases the success of your campaign by 5 to 10 percent, then the reward of Big Data justifies the cost.

Anyone who maintains a list of their customers or point-of-sale data has enough information to dive into the finer details of how their business runs. Small- and medium-sized companies commonly have this information available, although it’s often collected in order to simply operate a business rather than analyzed to make informed, strategic decisions. Never the less, if available, data analytics is achievable on a smaller scale.

The open-source software used for Big Data is continuously becoming more diverse and user-friendly.

In addition, Big Data solutions are more abundant because access to consumer data is more affordable now than 10 years ago. Because the market is so much larger, data analytics tools are offered at a more economical rate.

At the Mittera Group, our Data and Analytics team works with a number of diverse companies, both locally and nationally, large and small. No matter the size or industry, our goal is the same—improving the bottom line.