It is no longer news that the internet is capable of producing chunks of data, both structured and unstructured. These data generated are known as big data.
Big data have become too much for physical storage servers to handle, and this has given rise to other efficient means of storage known as cloud computing. These days, with competition in the marketplace so fierce, it is incredibly vital that businesses strive to understand the needs of their customers and how to best attend to them. With technologies such as big data and cloud computing, small and large organizations can now effectively dig into a pool of data and extract insights that will further improve their services to customers. Small and large organizations alike are now making use of cloud computing and big data to grow their businesses.
What is big data?
In recent times, almost all we do is online. Either we are searching the web, chatting with friends on social media platforms, or even shopping online, we always leave a trail of data that can be harnessed by organizations when the need be.
Big data is a term that describes the large volume of data being generated by users in different forms as they search through the internet daily. These large sets of data can either be structured or unstructured. When data is structured, it means that it exists in a form where no cleaning or sorting is required. When it is unstructured, it needs sorting out first before it can be used. Over the years, big data has increased exponentially and has served as a source of analysis and discovery for companies wanting to explore ways to serve their customers better. Traditional storage servers can no longer accommodate the amount of data generated daily by consumers, and this has given rise to a more advanced storage technology called cloud computing.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is a means whereby data and programs are stored and accessed over the internet. It is fast, flexible, and economical. Cloud computing has three significant advantage
- It allows users to purchase as little or as much as they require at the moment, which means that businesses can adjust their cloud space according to their needs. Plus, the added advantage of having your IT needs fully managed by yourservice provider. You only need your internet and a personal computer to connect to your cloud.
- Improved access to high-speed data processing over the internet.
- Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing.Cloud computing can either be public or private. A public cloud is a datacenter that sells hosted services to anyone on the internet. But a private cloud only sells hosted services to a selected few. Whichever service they provide, the goal of cloud services is to make computing fast, secure, and scalable.
How big data and Cloud Computing are connected
Big data is used to describe a massive amount of information generated over various platforms through the internet. This data needs to be appropriately stored and analyzed for insights at all times, and that is where cloud computing comes in. In Big Data Cloud Computing, it is used to store and analyze big data.
With several industries across the globe effectively implementing both cloud computing and big data to tackle what once seem to be complex challenges, there is no doubting the enormous benefits both technologies can bring to our lives today.
Use of big data and cloud computing for businesses today
Effective Collection of customer data.
With tools such as google analytics, businesses can tap into a pool of already processed data in a cloud to detect patterns, predict customer behavior, and find a common interest. The information collected can help a business target a specific market with a particular offer that is peculiar to that market, which may lead to more sales.
- Reduced cost of data storage and maintenance
- With cloud storage, there is no need for companies to purchase all the necessary physical hardware and infrastructure needed to store their own generated data. Your cloud-based company will provide all at an affordable price, Plus you no longer need an in house IT staff to maintain and clean your data as your service company will also offer all these.
- Ease of Scalability
One of the significant benefits of cloud computing remains its ability to be adjusted according to the needs of users. Most cloud computing services are operated on a pay as you go policy. A business that experiences a sudden increase in traffic can quickly pay for extra cloud space without needing to upgrade pieces of equipment to meet the demand of the data coming in. Even when there is a drastic reduction in traffic as well, businesses can easily reduce their cloud space, thereby allowing them to pay less. This feature is significant, especially for companies that experience fluctuations in traffic from time to time.
Real-time data analysis
With the implementation of cloud computing and big data analysis, it is now possible for businesses to test their efforts on several projects using real-time analysis of customer behavior and responses. Through the use of technologies such as predictive analysis from cloud computing, company's can now almost correctly determine the behavior of customers and what they need.
Fast pace of data processing
With cloud computing and the use of AI technologies, data processing has become much easier and faster.
Improved security
Cloud computing has dramatically reduced the risk of cybersecurity theft by making sure that consumer data are not stored on one server. Instead, it is distributed across various protected cloud hosting servers and can easily be accessed when needed.
Prevention of loss of data
With traditional storage, loss of data is always an issue. But with cloud-based storage, that has been fixed. Information is stored on several servers and can be retrieved from them simultaneously. If one fails or crashes, the others can easily serve as back up.
Final take
Cloud storage is here to stay and will only get better. Businesses, both small and big alike, are moving towards the cloud for storage and effective mining of big data. It is affordable, secure, and much more effective in providing real-time analysis and excellent customer insight.