Variety: many new sources
Big data is a collection of all customer information collected from different sources: surfing behavior, messages and updates from users of online platforms, GPS signals from smartphones, information from the use of apps and much more. Many of the most important big data sources are relatively new: ten years ago, social platforms and smartphones did not exist.
Google Flu Trends
Google Flu Trends is a perfect example of the power of big data. By analyzing keywords, health professionals can predict in real time when a flu epidemic will break out. Duivestein indicates that in the past, data had to be cleaned up, but that nowadays the more, the better. From why to what – when does a disease break out, not why? He indicates that we are in a datafication era. “We try to express everything in data. The Internet of Things : everything gets a sensor and will soon communicate with each france mobile phone number list other,” says Duivestein.
“Zooming in on the smallest zero or one and zooming out for the bigger picture, that is the power of Big Data” – Sander Duivestein.
The second speaker of the evening was Sander Klous . Klous is responsible for the services in the field of Big Data & Analytics at KPMG. In his presentation he indicates that we have an enormous amount of data at our disposal (60 terabytes per second), but are unable to extract the right information from it. In his words, there is a disconnect between the available data and making decisions. Decisions are still made on gut feeling 9 out of 10 times. A good example of this is that there is an enormous amount of information available about the financial market, and yet we were unable to prevent a financial crisis.
According to Klous, the problem lies mainly in the fact that there are too few specialists who can deal with all that data. There is a huge need for people who are data analysts on the one hand and consultants on the other. He also ties in with the strict regulations regarding privacy in the Netherlands. As an organization, you may never simply use available data, not even if people themselves share the information on social media sites, for example. An anonymization step must first be taken.