5 Essential Big Data Best Practices For Your Business

When it comes to the current business ecosystem, the term ‘big data’ gets thrown around a lot. But how relevant is it to current businesses? And is it something that emerging enterprises need to be aware of? Absolutely. However, first, we need to define what big data actually is.

What is big data?

Big data refers to the collection, identification, organization, and assimilation of large amounts of data. This type of data includes both structured data, such as customer records, store transactions, and stock market data, as well as unstructured and semi-structured data, such as images, audio files, emails, and transcripts. When an organization faces a massive surge of data from multiple sources, a proper data management plan needs to be put in place. The plan needs to include efficient and convenient data practices that can help the organization manage its data and reach its objectives. Big data solutions vary depending on the organization or enterprise and its goals.

In order to implement a practical and suitable plan, companies, government organizations, and even agencies have been executing data management solutions that allow them to readily find or utilize any specific data or data. Many conduct further analysis for secondary or ulterior purposes. There are eight V’s that are generally taken into consideration in relation to big data or big data solutions. These are volume, value, veracity, visualization, variety, velocity, viscosity, and virality. So, after taking that into consideration, here we have outlined five of the best big data practices for your business.

#1 Define what big data is for your business

Primarily, businesses or corporations need to understand and define what ‘big data’ means for them. Only after this can a data management outline be prepared. This includes defining what types of data you source and produce, what data is relevant, whether it is at rest or in motion, discussing the goals of the business, and finally, discussing how your data management plan will help you reach your goals. In order to create a stable data platform, it is important to inculcate firm data governance mechanisms from the outset.

#2 Assess data sources and their current state

The second data practice that one can implement is to assess what strategy and big data solutions work best for your company. This will differ depending on the type and size of your organization, your business objectives, and the scale that your organization wishes to reach. Through both internal and external assessments and recommendations, you can assess your current requirements prior to building a data management strategy.

#3 Identify and prioritize big data segments to meet objectives

If your organization has different departments, such as marketing, sales, HR, or security which include large amounts of both non-sensitive and sensitive data, or if your organization has clients that possess confidential information, prioritization of data segments can be crucial to implement the best big data solutions.

#4 Keep backup plans and be ready to adapt

Change is a known constant, especially in the field of business and technology. Therefore, organizations should ensure that they are ready to adapt or make timely changes. For example, if a program no longer fits into your technology stack or if new security measures need to be installed, the data management plan should include required clauses for such contingencies. At the end of the day, your big data solutions should help prepare your data ecosystem for your business’s future.

#5 Acknowledge human limitations

Even though we’re dealing with big data, there are still human factors involved, such as IT team members, business managers, and data analysts, who work to ensure that the process of data management is carried out smoothly. While automation may be a big part of our collective future, there will always be a human component to every transaction. Therefore, we should understand their limitations. We can only progress and scale efficiently when both data management applications and people work together

With technology revolutionizing the world of big data, it won’t be long before every organization has to incorporate data practices into their daily functions. Even organizations that mainly deal with people or customer-centric functions have now started to realize the prevalence of data management in their operations. Therefore, whether an organization is in the field of consulting, business, technology, social reform, or even environmental sustainability, companies should start adapting to these changes now because big data is surely here to stay!