How to get a Return on Big Data

Simply put, big data is just that - a large amount of data. And despite the hype, can still offer a lot of potential. However, the part most forgotten when taking on big data, is figuring out how this new capability will change your business. With the right business model, you can start to realize a return on data.

Big Data for Big Return

One industry with long running experience in Big Data: Video Games (my kids love them!). Say what you want, but companies like these are managing large amounts of data to understand consumer behavior, experience, and interest. These organizations are making strong decisions based on hundreds of petabytes of data a day!

Through a mix of unstructured (calls, messages, video), structured (spreadsheets, data tables), and cloud (services, apps) data, they are able to analyze massive amounts of information in real-time. Regardless of your industry, you can gain from data investments.

Data-driven Business Models

Epic Games©, the developer of Fortnite©, has established itself as a free-to-play champion, building a new revenue stream for its business (small, in-game purchases) instead of retail sales (purchasing the game). It took the top spot in this category in part, by incorporating data into its success. Creating experiences, evolving products, and identifying new ways to generate revenue are all part of making data a key aspect of your business model. Here are a few examples:

1. Data Marketplace - Social networks, supply chains, and even email all offer an exchange of raw data. Real-time sharing, delivery notifications, and business messaging are big data, and a marketplace can offer customers value in the direct consumption of the data itself.
   

2. Information Provider - Health & wellness, finance management, and career sites all curate and prioritize data for consumer use. Often, information providers will also allow customers to set goals to help them reach their own objectives, while using the refined data as input into their decisions.
   

3. Analytics Conductor - Tax software, business tools, and vacuum robots put data to work for customers, automating actions and decisions to simplify their lives. Data and AI are automated in a cycle of workflows and systems to speed-up processes or do a job that consumers find challenging.

In short, don't just "do some data work." By doing so, a lot is left on the table. Taking the time to incorporate data you have (or plan to have!) into a business model and putting a modern platform behind it, is well worth the effort.