The era of big data: Is there a spring for small businesses?

The era of big data: Is there a spring for small businesses?

Speaking of the application of big data, let’s first look at a joke-like case: a supermarket analyzed a Based on the shopping data of the female customer (including shopping list, browsing items, consultation information, video surveillance information; wandering area in the supermarket; etc.), the female customer was sent pregnancy and infant trial products based on the analysis results. This move allowed The female customer’s father was very angry and immediately called the supermarket to complain because her daughter was underage! The supermarket manager immediately visited and apologized, but the fact was that not long after, the little girl had to tell her father the truth because she couldn't cover her bulging belly: she was really pregnant.

For enterprises, big data is sometimes like a detective, able to cut through the fog and find the essence of the problem and the solution. The key lies in whether you really know how to control it. Make it work for you.

On weekdays, most of what we see are cases of how business giants like Amazon use big data to formulate business strategies. So, does big data mean nothing to small and medium-sized enterprises? How do small and medium-sized enterprises apply big data?

Hugo.com learned from an article published by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC): Microsoft’s new leader Satya Nadella said that in the next four years or so, for large companies, “ The value generated by "data dividend" will reach 1.6 trillion US dollars. So, what about small companies? Does this big data only work for large companies?

Many experts believe that big data and data analysis tools not only help large companies, but can also help small companies grow rapidly and even go global. All kinds of data can be turned into easy-to-understand and effective tools to help small businesses capture business opportunities.

Dave Bailey is the president of Mediatonic Digital Games, a company whose gaming business is growing rapidly. He said: "Big data is crucial to our company, and it is also important to other small and medium-sized enterprises. Big data can provide us with guidance and allow us to formulate more precise development strategies."

Mediatonic operates a digital game business, and a huge amount of user data is generated in the accounts of game players, such as when and where users play games online, how long they play, which part of the game they like to play, and more Which is harder or easier, etc.

Dave Bailey said: "Understanding the behavioral habits of game players is crucial to our industry. Because today's games are often free to download, and most of the revenue of game companies is generated by players. Purchasing behavior during the game. Therefore, we must understand the interests, hobbies, and habits of players, so that we can cater to their interests and gain income.”

“We can be in different regions at the same time. Test different versions of the game, and then make adjustments to the game based on player response and the resulting real-time data. Now we can fully understand the habits and other information of each gamer through data,” he added. For small companies, the cost of storing large amounts of data is very low, and the use of this data is very large.”

Another example occurs with Criteo, a French online advertising company. With the help of data analysis tools, the company's business has grown rapidly.

Criteo tracks customers' Internet browsing history, learns their browsing habits, and finally creates personalized ads to attract the interests of different groups. If the content the user is browsing changes, the advertising content can change in real time, so a user can see different advertising content.

Criteo uses MongoDB as its main database. It currently has 2.5 billion banner ads every day and serves more than 5,000 advertisers worldwide. To do this, it must store an additional 20 terabytes of data every day.

Andrew Jennings, chief data analysis director of data analysis company FICO, said that for a single enterprise, it is often impossible to directly use big data and make it work, but it can be obtained through big data analysis tools Useful data services, refer to these data and make decisions just like we look at maps or weather forecasts.

Jonathan Gray, CEO of APP development platform Continuuity.com, said: "Mobile APPs are now prevalent in the world, and many companies can obtain data through mobile phones and benefit from it. We help APPs through data management systems such as Hadoop Developers build and improve apps so that they can obtain and analyze real-time data streams.”

There are numerous examples of utilizing big data in specific business practices. For example, a store that sells umbrellas or a store that operates outdoor barbecues often pays attention to weather forecast data, and also observes customer sentiment on social media. In addition, it may also use smartphone tracking systems to locate customers. Merchants collect various types of effective data through these methods and make a series of business decisions based on this, such as how much goods to store, how to carry out commercial promotions, etc.

There is no doubt that many small businesses cannot obtain same-store customer data as conveniently as Amazon, but now there is a lot of free public data, which can also play an important role in merchants' decision-making. .

Another example is that taxi companies use data on train delays and traffic busyness to formulate taxi business plans and decide when to dispatch vehicles or how to deploy vehicles.

Data analysis expert Jed Mole said that a fledgling company has very limited customer data at hand, but it is still very important to integrate with big data. He said: "We live in an era of data, and companies of any size cannot ignore data. I think big data can help a small company grow into a big company."

"Any company, regardless of its size Whether large or small, they will track customer data and after-sales data. Based on this effective data information, they can quickly respond to customer behavior and push effective information to customers.”

Today, the data analysis market is booming. In this scene, various data service companies have sprung up. For example, some companies provide APP data analysis, and some companies collect raw data and analyze it, generate specific business information, and then provide customers with practical and specific business information. plan.

In addition, social media is obviously an important source of big data for small businesses. It is not only a communication tool, but also an important channel for obtaining market information. Data analysis companies such as Datasift, mBlast, and SecondSync focus on converting social media data into useful business information for companies large and small to use when making business decisions.

The above is what the editor has shared with you about the era of big data: whether small businesses also have spring. For more information, you can follow Global Ivy to share more information