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Unlock Big Data's Big Potential

Tristan Anwyn

July 22, 2014

How can big data help your small business?

That's the question many business owners are asking themselves as more and more blog posts, webinars and seminars about big data are popping up all over the place.

Big data is here to stay and considering the fact that it offers businesses a significant advantage, it's time for your small business to take a serious look at big data rather than risk being left behind.

So just what can big data do for your small business? And how can you go about unlocking its potential?

What Is Big Data And How Do You Get It?

Big data can produce big results for businesses of every size, but what exactly is big data?

An expression that gets rolled out quite a lot online is the simple maxim "if you can't put it on an excel spreadsheet, its big data", and it's a good description to work from.

Big data means any set of data available to your business that is bigger than you could easily handle using your normal everyday software. That data could come from several sources:

• Social media stats;
• Web site stats;
• Information entered into sign up forms;
• Data from customer relationship management systems and similar software;
• Application logs;
• Archives of information that you already have.
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Big Data - Big Results

One of the most useful benefits big data offers is the ability to analyze what your customers and website visitors are doing, what they like, and what they don't.

Say for example you want people to sign up to receive updates on an upcoming product or service.

By using the data from your web site metrics, you can see how people are behaving when they reach your site, which links they are following and at which point they are clicking away.

This gives you an insight into where you're losing them, which gives you a strong starting point from which to figure out what you can do differently to keep their attention and guide them to sign up for those updates.

 By using big data in this way, your small business can gain valuable insights about your customers' behavior, which then allows you to hone your business and services to give them more of what they want and less of what they don't, which in turn bodes well for your profit margins.

3 Steps for a Small Business to Get Started With Big Data

There's no doubt that big data offers big advantages, but getting started can seem like a sizeable challenge for a small business.

As "How to unlock Big Data's big potential" points out, big data is easier for companies like Amazon and Google who were able to build in the big data technology they needed from early on.

For newer adopters, the real challenge is finding a way to integrate big data and its technology with your existing business structure.

To find your way along the learning curve, start with these three steps:

1. Start with a narrow focus - Instead of trying to integrate big data with your existing systems all at once, pick one area where your business would benefit from using big data to get some insight and start there. By narrowing your focus you make it easier to come up with a straightforward plan answering the key questions of what do you need, where will you harvest it, who will analyze it and how will they do that?

2. Involve your team - You might not have a data analyst waiting around for something to do, but don't overlook the skill set your existing team brings to your business. By searching their existing skill set for the skills you need to handle big data you will make the most of your available resources. By involving them with the process you'll have the chance to find out their concerns and ideas, and build a big data strategy that works for your business as a whole.

3. Take advantage of the available resources - From open source software to blog posts and tutorials to free or low cost big data training, there is a lot of big data related information out there right now. By tapping into it you can learn more about what works and what doesn't, and help your team brush up on their skills so big data will seem less daunting.

Big data has big advantages for your small business, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming.

By starting small and seeing big data as a support to your existing systems rather than a replacement, you can integrate it steadily and effectively, giving your business a competitive advantage.

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