Big Data is a very significant part of driving reforms in different sectors

We only have to look at how our habits and expectations have changed in the last decade to realise how everything around us is changing at a tremendous pace. Many of us use the Uber app or plan their stays through Airbnb and it is interesting to note that none of these flourishing businesses actually own the services that they are renting out. What they are instead very good at is having a platform that can offer the most efficient choice by comparing the various alternatives and combining them with our personal preferences. Big Data underpins this data crunching and insight discovery. Business like these have set the bar. We have increasingly grown into the expectation that everything must be extraordinary and excellent and this has been driving an unprecedented volume of change in every industry that touches our lives closely.

So what is Big Data? Big Data means a system that can ingest extremely large amounts of data and has an accompanying processing power to crunch this data in very little or no time, often as quickly as it is received. Big Data is at the heart of complex processing that work its way through copious amounts of seemingly non-sensible data, received from different providers, to make decision making quantitative and fact driven. Everything, from complex weather forecasts to connected cars is driven by Big Data. It touches our lives in ways more than one – from suggesting a garage visit by keeping a close watch on the thousands of sensors in a car, to enhancing our buying experiences online by focusing on our personal choices, to providing new ways for research and discovery in product innovation – be it medicine or mobile handset.

The drive for change is not lost on the different industries that are using Big Data. With increased level of customer expectations, failure and quick fix is no longer an option for businesses that have traditionally built their processes around it. Today telecoms are able to scan their network and home based equipment remotely, locate slowly emerging fault over periods of scans and apply proactive fixes. The focus of the industry has moved away from an emphasis on managing fault to resolve cycles to having devices built for remote problem detection, early diagnosis and maintenance, which keeps with the spirit of new levels of customer expectations are being applied without engineer visits. A telecom with media offerings is able to analyze the viewing habits and device-user interaction patterns for R&D and reduce time to market new products and services therefore earning a name as an innovator and market leader – something that is seen now as basic and necessary for customer loyalty.

Big Data is helping the financial sector change its emphasis from Knowing the Customer to Knowing the Transaction that from our experiences through the big downturn is an advanced level of risk management but challenges the assessment with higher volumes and immediate response. Compare this to credit and loan repayment assessment every time somebody pays with a credit card. An appropriate level of risk management has been mandated by the regulators, but for obvious reasons the banks are investing in advanced levels through new technological choices like Blockchain made possible by Big Data. Banks are refocusing their energies on innovation and value generation to their customers, which is made possible by “Open Banking APIs” in keeping with current trends of high expectations.

Pharmaceutical are putting this to a very important use that is leading to increased levels of pharma-covigilance, clinical trials and drug discovery and the benefit is seen as safer drugs that are increasing the life expectancy even through the most difficult of diseases.

In summary Big Data is here to challenge the traditional ways of conducting business. Any business that is not prepared to disrupt itself will be disrupted by start-ups simply using the multitude of opportunities made possible by the technological evolution around Big Data. It does seem daunting to take the first step but Infosys has built plug and play models to get going in a matter of hours keeping with the spirit of faster time to market.

(this article is authoured by KN Rao - Senior Principal Technology Architect, Infosys and Debashis Munshi, Senior Technology Architect, Infosys)