Big Data

digital becomes mainstream

Data is everywhere. Hyper connectivity, coupled with digitization, is compelling organizations to adapt traditional business models to incorporate broader and multi-source data sets.

Beyond computers and smart devices that record and communicate, everything from cars to coffee machines are becoming rich sources of information, and will reshape the competitive landscape between companies who use data to their advantage and those who do not.

Given the proliferation of data, we encourage executives to explore how to get the most value out of the information they collect and hold. When used properly, data analytics can help companies understand their customers better than ever before, anticipate risks with far greater precision, and identify opportunities to improve performance as competitive dynamics evolve.

WORK WITH THE CLOUD

Cloud computing makes it much simpler to manage and analyze ‘big data’ efficiently and effectively. However, proceed with caution. Cyber adversaries are looking to the public cloud as a way to attack organizations. Apply strong security controls, for example encryption, and deploy tools to help monitor whether data in the cloud is only being accessed by authorized users.

BROADEN DATA SETS

Useful data points come in different shapes and size. Look to sensor technology and the communicating networks that make up the “Internet of Things” to identify new sources of information and “soft” intel. Leverage AI to digest enormous quantities of data from across your organization, including the fuzzier stuff such as free-text maintenance reports and powerpoint presentations. When these fresh data points are combined with powerful data analytics, you can gain critical insights into your organization’s performance and changing customer needs.

ORGANIZE AROUND CUSTOMERS

The days of designing products based on broad demographics or survey groups are fading fast. Advances in technology have given businesses access to exponentially more data about client expectations and demands. It is an amazing opportunity for organizations that have embraced the data analytics revolution to learn more about consumer behaviors, choices, and volunteered preferences. Putting your customers and clients at the center of growth strategies, as opposed to a single product or channel, sets you up to develop holistic solutions and offerings, with compelling value propositions, to generate new revenue streams. Companies that get it right will be first to market, earning the loyalty and trust of their clients.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Talented people, talented machines

The advances in AI, machine learning, and robotics is astounding. Everything from social and emotional intelligence, natural language processing, logical reasoning, identification of patterns and self-supervised learning, to physical sensors, mobility, navigation and more.

Where a human brain tends to focus on obvious data correlations, a deep-learning algorithm, trained on an ocean of information, has the ability to discover subtle and complex connections between obscure data sets. The uses are nearly limitless, from diagnosing cancer or detecting payment fraud, to autonomous vehicles and robots scurrying about in corporate warehouses.

These technologies are fast, accurate, work around-the-clock without complaining, and can be applied to many tasks and use cases. Breakthroughs in AI, machine learning, and robotics will continue to have monumental impacts on traditional business models and drive widespread economic benefits for all. We urge organizations to rapidly ramp up their efforts to understand and develop a vision for their use of these technologies going forward.