How Big Data is changing our lives?

In recent years, “big data”, whose importance has been increasing, has become an important component of the business world as one of the basic building blocks of digital transformation. If you are not prepared for how to use big data, also known as “new gold” or “new oil”, or how to make your decision processes more efficient based on your data, it is time to focus on this issue as soon as possible.

In particular, with the concept of IoT (Internet of Things) entering our lives and connecting every object to the internet; Thanks to the rapidly increasing number of digital applications, data is collected from a variety of sources at an astonishing rate and the amount of data is increasing exponentially. If you imagine the amount of data you have available today as an egg, by 2030 that egg will be a soccer ball; By 2050, it will reach the size of a football field!.. Another striking study on data increase is the information doubling hypothesis: According to this hypothesis, while information doubled approximately every century until 1900, in the Second World War II. At the end of World War II, this period was 25 years; Today, the average has dropped to one year. According to IBM, the increase in IoT applications will lead to information doubling every 12 hours in the coming years. Aside from the rapid increase in data and information, the main issue we need to be aware of is; No matter how big, the data has no value on its own… “Value” emerges when the data is processed and analyzed to solve a need or a problem.

In this article, I analyzed how big data has changed different sectors, our habits and our lives, in short, our lives.

While we have enough data, do we have the resources and tools to make sense of it?

Although the collection, processing and use of personal data to guide consumers without adequate information is a matter of serious debate in many countries, including our country, companies continue to collect customer data at a rapid pace. Today, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the processes of managing and making sense of data. While we have plenty of data, we do not have the organizational culture and human resources to properly collect, analyze and manage data. This situation causes institutions not to be able to improve their decision-making skills based on data, and not to use the collected data sufficiently to improve customer relations and ensure customer satisfaction. Although it is not an easy process to come up with analyzes that will interpret the data correctly, and to increase revenue or customers by using the data; The popularity of data brings with it a wave of excitement and urgency. While the business world has great expectations for gaining competitive advantage and operational efficiency with big data; many organizations are still struggling with the fundamentals of data management. For example, high-profile data breaches continue to make headlines.

Customers expect personalized experience

The increasing focus and interest in big data has also indulged users, making them addicted to real-time interactions. As businesses invest more in digital services, consumers are demanding more personalized experiences based on their own expectations and needs. Increasing time spent on social media causes instant collection and processing of your likes, shopping habits and location information; as a result, it allows everything you like and dislike to be presented in a predictable way.

On the way to personalized services, it is necessary to carry out an infrastructure and planning that will deal with big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, IoT and blockchain technologies together. Blockchain necessitates an integrated approach in terms of big data strategy in order to feed the data set by the IoT, to keep the data in the cloud for analysis at a real-time speed, to analyze it by artificial intelligence-supported algorithms and to draw instant results, and finally to ensure data security.

Better results possible with augmented analytics

However, augmented analytics has become a must-have for getting more meaning out of big data. Augmented analytics, which is one of the latest trends in big data analytics and also called artificial intelligence-driven analytics, helps to identify hidden patterns in big data sets; It helps uncover trends and actionable insights.

An example of augmented analytics is providing important information and predictions about the monitoring of the spread of the virus and the effectiveness and impact of measures against it, in the context of the current pandemic. During the pandemic, AI has played a critical role in helping experts predict the spread of the disease, planning capacity, researching new treatments, and tracking people at risk. Augmented analytics will also continue to play an important role in identifying and predicting future natural disasters, climate change, disease prevention, crises and their opportunities.

Changing understanding of entertainment with big data

Netflix, one of the leading digital video platform providers, is one of the companies that make the most of big data. With completely data-driven algorithms, it can clearly predict which content viewers will like. In order to achieve this, the company collects all customer data (from behavior to customer profile) on a common platform and combines this data with artificial intelligence-based recommendation systems.

Personalization is also one of the company's key priorities. For each customer, personalization is provided in many dimensions: Ultra personalization is applied in different parameters, from the recommended content and their order, the way the content is organized and even its visuals.

In the future, you will be able to order a special movie featuring the actors of your choice while sitting on your sofa. Advanced predictive analytics will also be able to predict a movie's viewing potential.

The secret of the blue color in the Google logo

At the point of making sense of big data, the story of the emergence of the blue color in the Google logo is also quite striking. In order to choose the blue color it uses in its logo, Google initially stays between two different blue tones. Afterwards, an employee assigned to choose between these two colors distributes 40 different blue hues between the two colors to different user groups and analyzes user behavior. In the currently used color, which is called the official Google blue, it is observed that users search more and stay longer on the platform, and the color is registered in this way.

Innovations in healthcare using data

Physicians and hospitals will have the opportunity to customize their healthcare services according to each patient's genes, environment and lifestyle by better analyzing symptoms thanks to artificial intelligence and large data sets. From diagnosing brain tumors to deciding which cancer treatment will work best for an individual, the personalized medicine revolution will be transforming the healthcare industry entirely. In this direction, we started to see striking solutions from some technology companies. By analyzing the data from the sensors and customer behavior on the watch brand Apple Watch, Apple has begun to make very vital predictions, from detecting a heart attack early to whether or not you have contracted Corona.

Importance of data in smart city vision

Big data can also be described as a prerequisite on the way to smart cities. To give a few examples, since 2013, thousands of traffic lights in Los Angeles have been supported by sensors and instantly analyze traffic density. Thanks to this project, which is defined as an “automatic traffic surveillance and control system”, traffic across the city has become 16% more fluid; because traffic lights can dynamically direct vehicles to reduce traffic density.

Smarter solutions with data from vehicles

The fact that cars are connected and communicate with each other or with other connected objects paves the way for the development of many applications. V2V (vehicle to vehicle) communication, as the name suggests, means that vehicles share data with each other about speed, road conditions and other factors. V2V holds great promise for avoiding accidents, reducing traffic congestion and improving the environment. Beyond V2V, the V2X (vehicle to everything) concept makes it possible for vehicles to make their own decisions, place orders, or even make transactions at an electric charging station.

Big data is now an important supporter that we need to consult in all our strategic decisions for the future. If big data is used correctly, it also allows us to see the world better and differently. Therefore, it is very important to be a part of change by making data-oriented thinking a discipline.