Member Article

Is ‘big data’ the economy kick-start we need?

‘Big data’ could be worth the equivalent of a quarter of our current national debt and create 58,000 jobs, a recent study shows.

The term refers to the masses of data produced everyday, and generated across sensors to gather climate information, posts on social media sites, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records and cell phone GPS signals, among a huge number of other processes.

According to IBM, 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years along, and it could be extremely valuable to UK businesses.

Research by independent organisation, the Centre for Economics and Business Research and SAS, puts the total value of big data at £216bn over the next five years.

However, it is suggested that organisations will only realise this value if they learn how to process the growing information that is captured.

Sehan Mohamed, CEBR economist, said: “Businesses are in a place to harness Big Data, and through the right technology, they can really power this ahead.”

The analysts behind ‘Data Equity: Unlocking The Value of Big Data’ say if businesses can process and properly analyse the information, they will grow their customer base, create new products and make efficiency savings that will deliver a significant boost to the economy.

High-Performance Analytics rapidly increases the speed at which valuable insights are extracted from this Big Data - giving results in seconds rather than hours or days – encouraging
innovation, and improving productivity and working practices.

A report published in March by think tank DEMOS, called on the Government to be more radical with its big data approach, suggesting it is not just private sector businesses that need to do more.

The report suggested frontline public sector staff, such as nurses, social workers and police, should be armed with iPad-style data stores to keep track of service users and their specific needs, giving them real-time information that can be shared and analysed.

Independent News Media has created a video which looks at the issue of big data, and follows the recent research. Take a look here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .