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Tremendous amounts of data are being captured every second. While companies have more access to large data sets than ever before, finding productive use of these is the challenge. Even companies with capabilities to capture data like demographics, preferences, and visited locations or web addresses need experts who can both interpret this data and understand the technology to help them do so. A career in business analytics helps companies understand these data sets and how they can actually be utilized to help businesses – and people – thrive. 

IBM defines big data as “data sets whose size or type is beyond the ability of traditional relational databases to capture, manage and process the data with low latency.” IBM explains that these data sources are more complex than ever because they are being populated by artificial intelligence (AI), mobile devices, social media and the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT refers to all of the objects and devices (“smart” technology) connected to the internet to make them more useful, while simultaneously capturing large amounts of data on how people use a product as well as the product’s performance. 

Big Data Growth

The concept of big data first gained momentum in the early 2000s when websites, particularly early social media companies, began starting to capture large amounts of information from their visitors. Data growth can be expressed in what is called the “three Vs”: volume, meaning the large amount of information coming in; velocity, meaning the data is coming in at increasing speed; and variety, meaning the data is coming in from various types of formats, from text to email to video, to financial transactions, and beyond. 

Oracle adds the additional importance of value and veracity to describe big data. The value of data sets has to be discovered and analyzed. And how truthful that data is has to be interpreted in order to assert its reliability. “Finding value in big data isn’t only about analyzing it (which is a whole other benefit). It’s an entire discovery process that requires insightful analysts, business users, and executives who ask the right questions, recognize patterns, make informed assumptions, and predict behavior.”

As we explained in a previous blog post, business data analysts work to making sense and use of big data. Saint Vincent business analytics students learn to understand the various factors at play in data analysis to help companies make strategic, beneficial, and ethical decisions. Through interpretation courses, students prepare to meet the growing need for individuals who can both understand data’s meaning and help businesses find meaningful use from big data.