Ask anyone in the tech world what the biggest disruption of the year so far is, and they’ll tell you data. Lots of data. For many people, that might seem a little strange. After all, data, big data – whatever you want to call it – has been around for a while. So why all the excitement? Well, it has a lot to do with the fact that we now have the tools to process all those data. And it’s having a significant impact in the business world. So what big trends are we seeing?
The Internet Of Anything Is The New IoT
We’ve already heard a lot about the Internet of Things. It’s a broader conception of the web beyond just our PCs and phones. It’s the internet that connects everything, from sensors to servers to GPS data. But now data experts are looking beyond even this. CTO of Hadoop predicts that we will soon start integrating pretty much any data we can get our hands on. It’s what he calls the Internet of Anything. Data goes beyond just that generated by our devices. Data that are generated by observation are important too. And these data are now being fed into analytical models.
Protecting Data Across The Data Ecosystem
Traditionally, there’s been a lot of focus on the security of the server itself. Businesses were worried about servers getting hacked and their data being lost or stolen. But now concerns have shifted. Businesses now depend on incoming streams of data, just as much as they do the server itself. And that’s leading many to investigate how to make the sources of data more robust to attack and breakdown. For example, a company might be getting a constant data feed from a satellite. Sure, it’s server might be fully secured. But the data stream from the satellite could be disrupted at the satellite end. Protecting the transmission of data, therefore, is becoming a priority.
Big Data Is Being Made Easy
Over the last forty years or so we’ve seen a consistent trend towards simplification of IT-related processed. Early on in the computer era, you needed a Ph.D. to operate one. But now, anybody with core competencies can interact with a tablet or smartphone. We see the same phenomenon underway in the big data space. New tools are always being developed that make using big data easier and more convenient. And that’s opening big data up to more and more businesses. Companies, like Hadoop, are working hard to reduce complexity and improve user-experience.
Job Opportunities In Data Analytics Are Exploding
Right now, the analytics industry is in a massive boom phase. It’s expected that the analytics industry will grow to around $51 billion by 2018. And that means that it will soon eclipse other industries, like digital marketing. The number of job opportunities in the sector is expected to expand significantly as well. In 2018, there are projected to be 190,000 jobs in the industry in the US alone. The average salary is also expected rise well above the national average to $123,000. And, pretty much anybody can get involved. Go to Simplilearn for details.
Data Providers Can No Longer Keep Up
2016 looks set to be a turning point for data generation. Up until now, we’ve been able to expand network capacity to deal with increases in traffic. But in 2016, the amount of data generated will be vast, and this will no longer be feasible. Instead, companies and users will have to start regulating the data they collect. But they won’t do it in a dumb way. They’ll get smart about the data they want and the data they don’t. And this will help them to keep leveraging data while keeping costs down.
Data Will Be Democratized
Democratization is a big buzzword at the moment in the tech industry. It’s the idea that everybody can benefit from the value of a product. The tech industry has already democratized a lot of stuff. GPS is a good example. Back in the 1970s, if you wanted a GPS system, you had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now it comes free with your smartphone. Other democratized technologies include DNA sequencing. If you wanted to have your DNA sequenced ten years ago, you had to pay $100 million. Now you can have it done for $1,000.
The tech industry wants the same to hold true for data. They want everybody to have access to the benefits that can be reaped from the collection of lots of data.
That’s why we’re currently seeing so many tools designed to help lay people access and understand data. These tools will help people parse data for genuine and meaningful value.
Data Privacy Is A Growing Concern Outside The US
In 2016, companies began collecting unprecedented quantities of information on their customers. Although most intend to use this data for good, regulators in Europe are clamping down. Recently, regulators changed the way that companies have to collect data in the EU. They now have to ask customer permission at every stage of the data collection process. And this means that they need to change their procedures in line with new legislation. Privacy can no longer be an afterthought in some parts of the world. It has to be built into company data strategy.
Data Algorithms Are Entering The Boardroom
One of the benefits of big data algorithms is their ability to be objective. That makes them potentially great partners to have in the boardroom. Board member rely on sophisticated analysis to make decisions. But it’s hard for a single human mind to parse all the data and come to a conclusion. That’s why some businesses are now consulting with artificial intelligence, giving it a vote in the boardroom.
The Cloud, IoT And Big Data Will Converge
We’re used to thinking about these three technologies as separate entities. But they will cease to be thought of as such once they are all fully integrated into a single system. The name of the ultimate system isn’t known yet. But it’s likely we will just expand our definition of the internet.