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Now it is too popular to discuss such term as Big Data. But not everyone clearly understands what it is and which value it has. Let’s figure it out in order.

So, big data is a huge and complex dataset from different sources and constantly growing in volume. 3 main characteristics of big data: high speed of reception, large volumes, variety. Big data is mainly used to solve business problems in consequence of information content depth and width. At the moment, many organizations already work with big data, reaping the full benefits of its usage.

10 main areas where big data is actively and successfully applied:

1. Customer understanding and targeting

At the moment, this ​​business area actively uses big data. The main goal is to understand better customers, their behavior and preferences. Companies gain a more complete picture of their customers by expanding information sets with data from social media, browser logs, text analytics, and sensory data. The main goal is to develop predictive models.

2. Business processes understanding and optimizing

Companies use big data to understand better operational processes and improve its efficiency. For example, companies can optimize their inventory based on forecast data, web search trends, and social media data.

3. Personal indicators assessment and optimization

Big data can be useful not only for organizations, but also for people. For example, a person who owns a smartwatch or bracelet receives certain data every day (number of steps, number of calories consumed per day, activity level, sleep pattern, etc.). The correct this data usage brings benefits to the user.

4. Health care system improving

Big data analytics can decode entire DNA strands in minutes, develop new medicines, and better understand and predict disease patterns. Also, it is possible to track and predict epidemic outbreaks, monitor newborns in specialized departments.

5. Athletic performance improving

Big data analytics are widely used among elite sports. At the moment, it is already developed IBM Slam Tracker for tennis tournaments. Video analytics is actively used, with the help of what it is possible to track individual football or basketball player’s performance during a match. Sensor technology of sports equipment helps to obtain data about the game and improve it. Smart technologies can be used to track the routine of each athlete: his diet and sleeping mode, his emotional state through messages on social media, etc.

The US National Football League (NFL) has developed a platform that allows to make effective decisions by analyzing the pitch condition, weather conditions, statistics of the individual players results.

6. Science and research development

Science and research field is empowered by big data. The European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) conducts various experiments to reveal the Universe secrets, its origin and existence, generating huge data amounts. Big Data computing power can be applied to any dataset, discovering new opportunities and sources for scientists. Researchers can easier access census and other data to create more accurate picture of public health and social sciences.

7. Machines and devices performance optimizing

Big data analytics enables to create smarter and more autonomous hardware. Big data technologies are used to drive self-driving cars, optimize computers and data warehouses performance.

8. Security improvement

Big data is widely used in this area. Thus, the US National Security Agency (NSA), by analyzing big data, has the ability to prevent terrorist operations. Big data analytics is also used to detect and prevent cyber-attacks, to catch criminals, predict criminal activity, and detect fraudulent transactions.

9. Cities and countries improvement

Big data is used to improve many aspects of life in cities and countries. For example, optimize traffic by analyzing traffic conditions in real time. Big data analytics is also used to transform a city into a «smart» city, where transport infrastructure and utilities processes are combined.

10. Financial markets

Big data is widely used in high-frequency trading. Decision making processes take place using big data algorithms. Share sale is carried out using big data processing algorithms that consider signals from social media, news sites, etc. It allows to buy and sell shares in a matter of seconds.