The Big Data Revolution and Its Impact on Business
The big data revolution is rapidly transforming the way business has been conducted since the invention of the first computer. Currently, an investor does not need to consider how his competition operates; rather, their focus should change from the vertical structure of the business to the horizontal format. According to Philip Evans, the concept has changed the way things were previously thought about in terms of value chains and scale returns. While referring to the classic Encyclopedia, one can see how Britannica has progressively been supplanted by Wikipedia, and how consumers are loving the change.
Down to business, the paper talk is slowly being replaced with the more advanced use of technology that can grasp data in a twinkle of an eye and this data can be restored for future analysis and dissemination to the end user. A good example, is how the telecommunication industry has seen the tremendous transformation with the use of fiber optics which can send seamless data over long distances without the use of several transmitters. The results are transferred to other industries such as music and stock market and that is the central idea about this paper on bid data revolution to businesses.
Changing Focus in Business
Traditionally, business used to be considered in terms of transaction costs but today the main issues of concern are communication and information processing. Evans feels that 90 percent of all communication costs have been falling meaning that transaction costs should have seen the change at that rate. In fact, he sees there is less to economize on with the advent of the big data revolution. He resonates the way the first genome was developed back in the year 2000 at a cost of over $200 million but currently, the same process goes for even less than 100 dollars. Meaning that back then, everything was about research but now things have changed to retail.
The retail has been transformed so that an individual going to a hospital will be asked about their genome and not how the disease came about and other medical histories. In other words, as transaction costs came down, the fabric that held most business down separated leading to a more horizontal structure of business. Illustratively, businesses needed to think of ways in which they can accommodate both collaborations and also competition in a simultaneous manner (Evans, 12:27) The very large and very small simultaneous and industry structures should be shifted from traditional motivation of people in communities to social ones that look at infrastructure built by governments or even corporate companies that are built by companies that are competing.
The Application of Big Data to the Music Industry
Traditionally musicians used to produce music and the same songs could be sold through several institutions leading to a high cost of production. They used to involve several middlemen who could guide the process but at the end of the day, the money used to never reach their pockets as expected. A lot of cash was spent in trying to maintain operation expenses of these middlemen such as, promoters and managers of events and the musicians. In doing so, the accounting departments also expected to be paid from the same music making the whole process of traditional paperwork a waste of time and resources in this big data-driven world.
Currently, with the introduction of data systems, musicians are able to analyze statistics and be able to make their own choices in terms of how to sell their products independent of middlemen and the effect has been tremendous in terms of reduction of costs and increase in profits. They can be in a position to note how their music labels are performing and how much they are making using the high analytical data streams. A good example, is the introduction of iTunes by Apple which allows musicians to sell their music through a music store. Another is one developed by Imogen Heap called Mycelia. It uses block-chains to create a very transparent database for music (Giles, 1). Music lovers get to interact with their musicians through a portal and sales are directly sent to the musicians without necessarily involving middlemen.
Big Data in the Stock Market Industry
It is important to note that, the New York Stock Exchange alone, generates about 1 terabyte of data per day (Ahmar, 1). A huge chunk of the same data is unstructured and not useful to many businesses. Investment banks and other financial institutions are now hiring data analytics to help them structure the data into something very valuable for the future applications.
Traditionally, people used to rely on stockbrokers to tell them what is happening in the stock market and how they should invest in several stocks of different companies. The advent of big data revolution has reduced this gap of the middlemen into a small issue of data-driven software that can be analyzed by the investors, themselves. A good example is how mathematical algorithms like Apriori, Frequent Pattern Growth work alongside other analytical tools such Lift, Kulc, IR and even Chi-Square can be used to predict the stock market perfectly thereby removing the need for stock brokers (Ahmar, 1).
Conclusion
The big data revolution is transforming the way people and institutions used to conduct business from the traditional paper talk to a more data-driven environment. Currently, banks are hiring data analytics and musicians are using technology driven platforms such as Mycelia to sell their products to customers as they interact one-on-one with them. Stock brokers are being replaced by data analytics as well as analytical tools such Lift and Kulc. The result is a seamless business environment that is not only faster but also safer for the investor.
Works Cited
Ahmar, Muqbil. Get Rich on the Stock Market Using Big Data Analytics. Tech 2, 2016. Web.
Evans, Philip. How Data Will Transform Business. Ted.com, 2013. Web.
Giles, Matt. Big Idea: Hacking the Music Industry. Popular Science, 2015. Web.
