Bringing down costs using Big Data

How can companies get the most out of Big Data?

There is an infinity of Big Data applications which can be used by municipalities to offer better services to citizens, for example, or by companies to improve their conversion rates. The following are some ways companies can use Big Data:

• Boost their sales,, the data allows them to extract patterns to help them take marketing decisions. In this sense Big Data is also highly useful to get to know customers better and thereby strengthen loyalty.
• Offer new services,banks can use Big Data to make recommendations to customers and, as above, make them more loyal.
• Generate new businesses,  the data allows banks to advise customers on the feasibility of a business in a specific area.

In terms of the manufacturing sector, Big Data applications are mainly aimed at bringing down costs:

• Having more information allows for better planning, which cuts back on technical and human costs.
• Improving warehouse and stock management
• Reducing human resources by subcontracting
• Making all of the company's processes more efficient and effective

There are many companies aware of the importance of Big Data and who spend a great deal of time on collecting data. Some of them commit errors however:

• Immature companies that collect data but do not know what to do with it.
• They store masses of data that they never use
• They cannot turn the data into operational data 

As more and more value has been placed on data, new professions and areas of expertise have arisen, for example Data Science and Data Scientists. Data Science studies the extraction of knowledge from data.

A Data Scientist is an expert in Data Science who solves complex problems based on data analysis to help to extract conclusions and procedures.

What's the job profile of a Data Scientist?

This profession is one of the most sought-after at the moment due to the importance being attached to data.

A good data scientist should have knowledge of the following:

• Database programming and processing, to store information, call APIs, etc.
• Mathematics and statistics to segment the audience and make recommendations based on their predictions.
• Communication and visualization skills to inform customers why certain things happen.
• Market dominance, they must specialize in the sector for which they are working to be able to provide an effective service.

Another important aspect of the work of a Data Scientist is that they must be able to guide their customer on translating their problem and consequently solve it as efficiently as possible.

Although data plays an increasingly important role to improve the feasibility and conversion rate of a business, many people are also concerned by the privacy aspect.

Almost everything we do in our everyday life leaves a trail that someone can use to their benefit. In reference to this, during the interview that Edward Snowden gave on the Objetivo program, he said: “analyzing the data of millions of people has become cheap, easy and effective.”

This underlines the concern over mass data processing, although Big Data helps companies to meet their consumer needs better and therefore increase their conversion rate.