What Can Big Data Do For Small Businesses?

There’s no such thing as “too small” when it comes to dealing with “big data” issues. Mark Troester, global product marketing manager for solution provider SAS, offers a simple and smart definition for big data in a recent post: When volume, velocity and variety of data exceed an organization’s storage or computing capacity for accurate and timely decision-making.

Every organization has a tipping point, Troester said, and most organizations – regardless of size – eventually reach a point at which the volume, variety and velocity of their data will be need addressing.

More importantly, every organization has an opportunity to leverage big data to its advantage – to use analytics to drive accurate and timely decisions that can materially affect its goals. This opportunity exists no matter the size of your business or your annual revenue, said Troester. His assertions are backed by an Economist Intelligence Unit research study, Big Data: Harnessing a Game-Changing Asset. Nearly half the survey respondents who listed big data as a major issue facing their organization reported revenues of $500 million or less – small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs).

Troester cites numerous examples of big data affecting businesses across a variety of industries and vertical markets, from utility companies to trucking firms to restaurant chains. But all have a few things in common: a focus on data’s business value and how to analyze data in the service of customers.

Frank Moss, former director of MIT’s Media Lab and now an entrepreneur, has a slightly different definition of “big data,” equally applicable to SMBs. Big data, Moss said in an article for MSN’s Business on Main small business community site, is the explosion of structured and unstructured data about people — you, me and everyone.

Moss said that the proliferation of computers, smart phones, GPS devices, embedded microprocessors, sensors — all connected by the mobile Internet — are forming a ‘societal nervous system’ generating a cloud of data about people and growing at an exponential rate. Data generated by these devices is of the utmost importance to businesses of any size.

Companies can discover insights about users’ lifestyles, financial activities, health habits, social interactions, and much more and in the process better target their marketing and develop smarter products. Moss lays out just a few examples of how organizations big and small can leverage big data.

With increasing access to powerful analytics – powered by cloud computing technology, high-performance computing and the inevitable commoditization of computing resources, even the smallest of the small business now can put big data to work. If you haven’t explored your options yet, now is the time.

Sharon Florentine is a freelance writer who covers everything from data center technology to holistic veterinary care and occasionally blogs for Rackspace Hosting.

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