Big Data is a phrase that essentially means connected information – a great deal of it. In the hands of the right Big Data Consultant, that information becomes transformational for you . Better business decisions get made, sharper insights are discovered, and ultimately the information – the data – can become a competitive differentiator. Let’s explore the critical value of a Big Data Consultant and how the right one can be part of your business strategies.
What is a Big Data Consultant?
A Big Data Consultant understands data technologies and how to use them to better achieve your business goals. This process requires a holistic perspective on your business and what it does. What is your business presently doing with data? What more could it be doing? The right Consultant can help you understand how, with the right technologies or combination of data, new strategies and practices can be developed to positively impact your business.
Characteristics of a Strong Big Data Consultant
A Big Data Consultant has to see your business and your problems with an attitude of problem solving, potential and possibility. They should understand:
- The science of information trends, and how to properly see and exploit trends in your data
- The potential of data your business has accumulated and what additional data is necessary to achieve the optimal results
- How outside systems, software or applications could have a positive impact when integrated with your data
- The ability to forecast and seize opportunities
Seizing Opportunities: The Value of Experience
A Consultant brand new to Big Data is likely to be fascinated with technologies – shiny gadgets and fancy tools available to the capable technologist. Certainly competency with digital tools and technologies is critical, but an experienced Big Data expert knows where and when to use which tools – and what data they need to help you achieve your business goals. This helps increase efficiency, decrease costs, develop more accurate models, and uncover opportunities
At InterSoft Associates, nearly every Big Data Consulting project we engage in draws from our rich wealth and depth of experience with clients of all sizes in many disparate industries. We can recommend strategies because we have seen other similar strategies work well. We can advise against a course of action because we have seen and can foresee the problems that might await you down a certain path.
Yours does not have to be a huge enterprise-scale business to benefit from the advantages of Big Data. Any business, of any size, is likely already collecting data. The right Consultant can help you do more with that data, more efficiently, even for the small or mid-market business.
The Future of Big Data in Business
Business is in the midst of a fascinating technological explosion, with the Internet of ThingsInternet of Things (IoT), machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, wearables, health and wellness, smart homes and much more creating new data and new opportunities where you can appropriately leverage the vast amount of data available to you. What does all this data mean? Is it useful? Will it be to your business?
Again, here is where the value of the Big Data Consultant is demonstrated. The experienced and capable Consultant will be able to prognosticate in some ways. Is what you are considering now going to be valid, useful, or accessible in five years? As technologies advance, will the data strategies you are considering be future-ready?
As new technology trends emerge they will introduce new ways of thinking about and leveraging data. A Big Data Consultant naturally stays educated and informed about these and other aspects so you do not have to. This means the initiative you are engaging in today will be ready for tomorrow, too.
