My Experience

Over the past almost two months or so, I have been blogging about the topic of big data analytics within a variety of different industries and how it is being utilize. I started this blog for a data analytics class at Sacred Heart University; and before entering this class I had no knowledge of really what analytics were or how much they are being used in today’s world. I have learned a lot through the research I have done for this blog and I hope that I was able to teach something to my readers.

Like everything in life, there are pros and cons to big data analytics. However, for some people one of the cons may outweigh any pro and that is the concern of security. I am however a little nervous about the amount of data collected about me. I don’t care if companies want to know what I am google to send me targeted ads, I do care about my personal information getting out. With hackers and really smart techy people, that information can easily get into the wrong hands. I’m sure that I am not the only person who feels this way. Especially learning how the healthcare industry plans to take advantage of data.    

I am not surprised how many industries are using big data, after what I have learned, I am shocked why some companies and industries are so far behind in applying the use of data analytics. With all the data that gets collected now, if analysed and implemented properly, it can and will increase revenue for every company. Along with increasing the revenue, big data will also help to determine trends and improve on products, services, and the overall customer experience. In a world of social media, a company's image is extremely important.

Fun Facts About Big Data

I have spent the past couple of months writing blog posts about big data in different industries. I have learned a lot about big data and how companies are using it to their advantage when making business decisions. In this blog post I thought I would share some interesting facts that I have come across.

Fact Number One:

“The data volumes are exploding, more data has been created in the past two years than in the entire previous history of the human race.” Honestly that is crazy to me. You think about all the information that companies have access to today about us that a couple of years ago they never had. Imagine how much will be collected in the future.

Fact Number Two:

“Data is growing faster than ever before and by the year 2020, about 1.7 megabytes will be created every second for every human being on the planet.” Like WHAT? If they are going to be creating that much data every single second they better start working now on making sure that they have great security because otherwise a lot of people are going to be worrying.

Fact Number Three:

“Bad data costs US businesses alone $600 billion annually.” That is a lot of money for companies to spend a year on information that is wrong. Even though companies can really benefit from big data, they can also lose a lot of money when it isn’t analyzed correctly or is used incorrectly. No industry, company, or organization is immune to it.

I could go on and on with facts about big data, but these were the three that i came across that really were interesting to me. It is crazy how far data has come and it has such great opportunities to be used in the future. The question isn’t is data here for good, the question really is are people ready for what is to come with data in the future? Honestly I think that people like their privacy and as data continues to get collected, privacy goes out the window.

http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/15-astonishing-tweetable-facts-about-analytics

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/09/30/big-data-20-mind-boggling-facts-everyone-must-read/#12a8203317b1

Why You Should Choose a Career in Big Data Analytics

Big data is the new thing, it is everywhere and companies are trying to keep up with all the data that is collected everyday but this is hard because of the volume. Companies are scrambling to analysis the data coming in as quickly as possible so that they don’t miss out on anything important that they can use to their advantage. Data analytics has now become a crucial part in business to make smarter decisions, improve products and customer experiences, and getting a leg up on their competitors.  

If you are trying to figure out what industry you want to go into, a career in data analytics is a great choice. With more and more companies now implementing big data, the demand for people to analyze it continues to increase because all the data is useless when you don’t have the knowledge and skills to analyze it.

There is a high demand for highly skilled data analysts, and big data jobs pay big money. The skills that you need to analyze data are very specific and companies are willing to train and invest the money in you because not a lot of people have the skills that are required. Someone is data analytics can make anywhere from $50,000-$165,000 and more depending on the company, what job you are doing, and your level of experience.

There are many different jobs someone can get within the field of data analytics. One option is to become a data analyst. Data analysts look at the data that a company collects and provides reports and visualizations to explain the data and what it may be hiding. This is done by using charts and graphs to make the data easier for everyone within a company to look at and understand instead of just looking at a bunch of numbers on a computer. For this role someone must have good knowledge of data manipulation using programs such as excel. A job as a data analyst is an entry level position due to the fact that they have a lower skill set than others in the industry and therefore someone in this position makes around $65k.

Other option is to be a data scientist. They make the data easy to understand by interpreting it, they collect the information they need to tell a story. Someone in this role fine-tunes the mathematical and statistical models that are applied onto data. They use their knowledge of algorithms and statistics to solve the problems and questions that they want answers to. A person in this position needs to have a lot of skills in order to be successful. Knowledge in mathematics, algorithms, statistics, and programming language like Python and R. As a result of having to have a large skill set, people in this role make $115,000 and up a year.

You could also be a data engineer, these are the techy, computer savvy people. They use computer science to process a large amount of data. They are responsible for cleaning up data sets, implementing requests that come from the data scientist, and focus on coding. Data engineers have a broad knowledge of programming language from Python to Java and more. The have to know programs like Hadoop and Spark that source data and process it so that it is useful to the company. They also need to know a lot about warehousing solutions and data storage which is why they are paid around $100,000 a year because they have a lot of skills they need in order to do the job.   

The QuinStreet research found that 77% of companies said that big data analytics is a top priority within their company to improve the performance of the organization. Big data is being used to make smart decisions on how to market, where to spend money, find the patterns and trends within industries and just be all around more successful as a company.

So with companies seeing the value in big data and starting to use it more, there is a big need for people in big data analytics. Not only is it a good paying career, but there will always be a need within companies to have someone who knows how to read and make use of all the data that is collected. So if you are a recent high school student heading off to college or someone in the work world that is looking for a career change; big data is the industry to get into now!

https://www.springboard.com/blog/data-science-career-paths-different-roles-industry/

https://www.edureka.co/blog/10-reasons-why-big-data-analytics-is-the-best-career-move

http://blog.udacity.com/2014/11/data-analysts-what-youll-make.html

Big Data Changing the World of Psychology and Research

Psychological research in the past has always relied on people completing surveys and questionnaires. However, when relying on people to fill things out, most people are not completely honest about everything which can lead to misinformation and research conclusions. When asked on a form “do you smoke cigarettes, if so how often?” Many people are not going to be honest, they will answer the way they think they should. People always want to portray themselves as better than they really are, but with big data now being used more and more, people are not able to lie as easily about their everyday behaviors.  

According to Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, “every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003.” That is a lot of data, however if it is not analyzed properly and understood then it is useless. Since data analysis is fairly new, it will take a lot of time and people to sort through all the data that has been collected and make sense of it.

With all this data now available, it has the potential to change the way psychological scientists observe human behaviors. Big data means that the field of psychology can work faster, more efficiently, and reveal new things that they never thought was possible before. With the help of existing databases, wearable devices, social media, and smartphones, researchers are able to collect data that they never had access to before.

Michael Jones, a researcher at Indiana University Bloomington stated that, “each little piece of data is a trace of human behavior and offers us a potential clue to understanding basic psychological principles. But we have to be able to put all those pieces together correctly to better understand the basic psychological principles that generated them.” Jones is utilizing big data to help in his research on language development, specifically in infants and children.

“Big Data might help researchers get to a point where they can collect behavioral information without sampling human participants at all,” said Tanzeem Choudhury, an information scientist at Cornell University. As technology continues to advance, more and more data will be collected and eventually it will get to a point where researchers will get continuous updates of people’s behaviors and patterns. As a result, researchers will no longer have to bother people to fill out surveys and questionnaires, they will be methods of the past.

Tanzeem has been a part of a number of different developing smartphone apps that use big data to help with little everyday things to improve people’s lives. MyBehavior is one of the them, which looks at your physical activity patterns and then suggests ways to stay in shape. For example, taking hikes at locations that the person seems to enjoy. The next one that i thought was very interesting is called StressSense. This app will track where and when they experience the most stress throughout their day to help them avoid anxious situations. The last is called MoodRhythms which will help people who have bipolar to monitor social interactions and sleep to help maintain the person’s energy levels and keep their mood balanced throughout the day.

Big data can always be used by researchers to look at past research and get a fresh perspective on things. It could also help to support or abandon past theories and conclusions in the field of psychology. Researchers no longer have to rely on people’s word, the have clear data that is collected of behavior and patterns that may not line up with the things people say on paper. So it will help to get the raw truth.

Big data has been used a lot to help market and advertise brands and companies. However, it is really nice to hear that researchers and psychologists are able to utilize all this data that is collected in order to improve lives and make a bigger impact. Hopefully in the future, psychologists and researchers will be able to have all the information they need to prove ideas and theories not only in the future, but also for research that has been done in the past.

http://dataconomy.com/2016/04/big-data-tackles-personality-behavior-psychology/

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/what-big-data-means-for-psychological-science#.WRtgXOvyuUk

https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2015/03/24/what-can-big-data-ever-tell-us-about-human-behavior/#6bd7eb5c61f9

https://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/

5 Steps to Protect your Data (Part 2)

3. Delete Browser Cookies

It is no surprise that your internet browser tracks all the websites that you visit while online. This digital footprint that you leave behind every time you search the web is used to create a personal folder about you and what your interests and preferences are based on your internet history. From this data that is collect, companies can use this information to tailor specific offers and advertisements to you. Some think that this is a benefit but it can get annoying as well. The simple fix to not have companies bothering you with advertisements is to delete your browser cookies multiple times a day to make surveillance more difficult.   

4. Be Careful of Mobile Apps

Our smartphones are stalking us also. There are apps for everything now, you want to know what song is playing, there is an app for that. You want to know what time your train is coming, there is an app for that. Most of these apps collect a lot of data, including your pictures, emails, contacts, and so on. The plus side is that these apps do ask for permission to collect this data, so be aware of what your apps are asking for and what you are saying okay to.

5. Limit Social Media Usage

Every millennial loves using their social media. Do it for the insta! Well, like everyone knows, once it is online that’s it. We all love sharing our lives and pictures on social media sites, be very careful because all this information is collecting data about your life. Personally, I don’t really do any shopping online but I follow companies on social media and like pictures and in turn, I get a lot of advertisements popping up. Everything you like on facebook, every tweet, every tag, it can be seen by everyone. Social media is the easiest and faster way to collect data about you. In order to protect your privacy, you need to limit the amount that you use social media. I know it might be hard to do this, but this is where a lot of data is collected.

There will never be a way to completely protect your personal data. As technology continues to advance, more data will be collected. There is no hiding from data unless you never touch a computer or phone and even then data can still be completed. However, these last two blog posts are 5 ways to limit the amount of data collect and protect your own privacy and information as much as possible.

http://www.alecbjazz.com/5-hacks-for-avoiding-big-data-surveillance/

5 Steps to Protect your Data (Part 1)

Big data is all around us whether we are aware of it or not. Everything you do on the internet, every single search is collected and can be used to help companies market products and services to you. It isn’t just companies looking at this data, the government looks at it too. The scary thing is, they actually collect very accurate data that can say a lot about who you are. With data being collected and used more and more today, people are becoming very concerned about having personal information collected about them. People are now trying to find ways to prevent the amount of personal data that is collected on them. If you are the kind of person who cares about the data that is collected about you, below are five ways to limit your internet footprint.

1. Use Privacy Enhancing Technologies

Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) will not completely stop surveillance from happening, however it can make it more difficult to get access to the monitor. PETs can be as easy as a browser plug-in, some of these simply block websites that track your activity. This is an easy way to not have all your activity on websites tracked. The reason for PETs is to allow users to protect the privacy of all of their personal information.

2. Use Virtual Private Networks

This is very similar to the PETs, however many Virtual Private Networks (VPN) are free and easy to use for people like me who are not tech savy. The VPNs can be downloaded as browser extensions or plug-ins. Things like this are fairly easy to use because all you have to do is download them and then they do their job. VPNs wears a hat as an intermediary server between you and the website that you are busy.

Keep your eyes out for my next blog post, where I will discuss the three other steps you can take to protect your personal information and the amount of data collected about you.

Big Data in Big Travel

 

The internet has opened up a whole new world for people. Customers now demand personalized experiences with great customer service and they turn to the internet to voice their opinions and reviews of different products and services. Therefore companies need to always put their best foot forward so that customers return. This is true for every industry but especially the travel industry.

The travel industry has access to a wide variety of data from different actions and sources, such as itineraries, reservations, transportation, cancellations, inquiries, customer feedback, price, geolocation and so on. Big data is now being used by travel companies to wisely process all this data in order to target campaigns to different types of customers. Companies are able to make more money because they are using the data to produce better products and services leading to a better customer experience. In this post I am going to discuss some of the ways that the travel industry is optimizing their data.

Personalization

As someone who loves to travel this one is huge to me. Planning a trip can be very overwhelming with all the different options for flights, hotels, locations and so on. So the fact that travel companies are personalizing the travel experience will definitely bring in the dollars. When you travel you leave behind a data trail of your personal preferences, behaviors, previous interactions, and reviews and pictures on social media platforms. All this information can be useful to companies so that they are able to offer service that fit a person’s needs and wants, for example, offer hotels that have shuttle services to the airport. Making the travel experience personal to each individual person increases customer loyalty which every company knows is very important.

Pricing

As a recent college graduate who loves to explore, finding the best price on flights and accommodations is the most important thing. I will not stay in one hotel if it means there is one that is even cheaper. For me, the hotel is the place you sleep and that is about it, so the cheaper the better. Many people have the same mindset, they will pick on location or flight over another based solely on price. Travel companies are using data analytics to track and analyze competitors prices to notice trends from multiple sources. Kayak uses analytical models to make sure that the airplane ticket prices are the same on their site as they are on the airline sites. Companies like Kayak and Tripadvisor have made comparing the prices of flights and hotels extremely easy.   

Competitive Differentiation

With all the different types of companies within the travel industry, setting your company apart from the others is very important; this is when big data comes in. A Global Distribution System called Amadeus, has features available such as ‘feature results’ and ‘extreme searches’. This system gives travelers the ability to get very specific results to their questions without even having to submit them. Questions like “what is the cheapest flight to Ireland?” or “Can I fly out of the United States for $600?” One company that has seen good results from utilizing data is British Airlines. They are using the information on their website to offer exclusive and relevant offers to their most loyal customers. Getting your company to stand out from the crowd is extremely important in the travel industry since there are so many different companies to choose from whether it is airlines, hotels, you name it.

All of this shows how big data has reshaped the travel industry. The use of big data is not only making the customer experience better and easier, it is also improving the services, products and overall sales for companies in the travel industry. This is just the beginning of the use of big data in this industry, they still have a lot more that they can/ will do.

https://www.exastax.com/data-analytics/how-big-data-analytics-is-transforming-the-travel-industry/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2014/04/30/how-big-data-is-transforming-the-travel-industry/#5873d2fc56f0