How Big Data is Driving Modern Commerce
If you’ve been wondering why everyone seems to be so excited about big data? Or if you think it might be just a bunch of hokum and will soon disappear in much the way 8-track tapes did – think again. Big data is changing the ways businesses operate. Yes, commerce is more efficient as big data gives insights into industry trends and customer decisions. It also allows businesses to track what items specific customers have viewed online and then keep putting advertisements back in front of that customer on various places they visit on the web. That is just the tip of the iceberg though.
Industries are also using big data to monitor happenings in all of their stores. It can adjust the use of resources such as heating or lighting incrementally at all locations to end up saving thousands of dollars a month for larger companies. And that is just the beginning. With all the good big data has already helped to accomplish, estimates are still that less than 1% of information is even available for big data resources to tickle. Of course one of the other big limitations is imagination. Big data, like any other computer programming, can only perform what it is asked to do. It doesn’t dream up scenarios to try, but must wait for someone to program a request.
One thing you can count on, commerce will go through big changes in the next couple of years – those changes have already started. Brick and mortar stores are likely to become even less common as more and more commerce happens on the Internet. Even now, many national brands are no longer taking telephone orders. You can buy in their stores, or you can buy online, but they have shut down the ability to talk with someone on the phone about an order you want to place.
Many sites are finding increased sales with reminder marketing on social media pages or email accounts. You will probably begin to see more places using that option as well as more places where those reminders find their way onto your screen. And since more and more people are online using mobile devices, such marketing will probably be happening on your small screens before much longer too. The corporations involved just need to figure out and address effective ways to add sales reminder information without causing so much disruption to the flow of information that subscribers revolt.
Big data is also being used more in healthcare, so you may soon find it incorporated into how you receive certain types of medical care. Already there are sites providing diagnosis efforts for people in remote locations. One thing to consider is that since going into a doctor’s office can be a germ-ridden experience, your medical visits may become more and more virtual. This would save you the time of sitting in a waiting room and also save the medical facility from some of their staffing and location costs.
We live in a brave new world, and the possibilities are unlimited, even if they seem a bit sci-fi scary sometimes too. Advances are happening every day and we are learning to adjust at a rapid-fire pace.
