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Big Data – Looking Beyond Horizons
Big data is a field that deals with data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data-processing application software. Systematic extraction of information from these large data sets can be difficult when using legacy data-processing applications. There are 4 main categories that typically fall in this domain: Descriptive Analytics, Diagnostic Analytics, Predictive Analytics and Prescriptive Analytics.
Big Data – Limited Perceptions
When a layman is told by a company, ‘We analyze big data’, what they typically think of is the vast amounts of data points collected by marketing and advertising companies to target consumers with better ads and apply more subliminal conditioning to create desire for targeted products. And for most companies, that is the extent of big data usage – clean out outliers and use clustered data to identify goals and how to achieve them.
Enterprises have awakened to the reality that their big data stores represent a largely untapped gold mine that could help them lower costs, increase revenue and become more competitive. Within today’s competitive marketplace the ability to make the right tactical decisions, and to implement those decisions at the right time, can be the difference between success and failure. The intense focus on using big data to identify goals and make tactical decisions sometimes blurs the opportunity to look beyond those limited horizons and to fully capitalize on the intrinsic value of that data.
Expanding the Horizons
If you want to figure out trends of coronavirus spread and mutation, the analysis involved requires big data collection, warehousing, cleaning and then extracting meaningful analysis and information from the data. Raw data is seldom helpful in reaching a meaningful conclusion.
Want to make a self-driving car? You need the capability to process millions of visual data points per second. The AI systems used to create sophisticated systems cannot be trained by a lone developer sitting in a dark room somewhere. Light Detection and Ranging AI usually requires billions of data points to create the required neural networks, accurate geographical data in a 3D map and then make split second decisions in real time.
Even security systems run on big data now – by doing the exact opposite of conventional analytical systems. The outliers are detected, but not removed. Differentiating between inconsequential and threatening anomalies – a skill at which even humans fail occasionally- is a core functionality of these security systems. Such a system falls under the category of a diagnostic application.
So, as an IT or marketing or product-based company, ask yourself – are you as much a driver in the field of big data analytics as you aim to be? Even if we do decide to take up the challenge and drive innovation, there are a lot of hurdles in our path such as unstructured data, siloed data, and data growth. How can we, as an industry, make sure we are contributing to the field in some way and not simply relying on industry behemoths to lead us towards better analytics systems?
Client Says
We are implementing Plasma Ag Solutions across our network of locations. Plasma Ag provides several capabilities that stand out for our users such as Programs, Rebate management, and Inventory tracking. It is quite difficult to track margin information on crop protection products in our industry so our Owner Operators love the transparency the system provides. We utilize the system to professionalize our support to the network and it has become a bit success with all of them.
Several hundreds of our retail locations and joint ventures use Plasma Ag solutions as a part of their core operations. Plasma solutions provide very useful tools and deep insights to users – including tracking customer transactions and financial information. Their applications are tightly integrated with CRM, ERP, Accounting, and our other mission critical IT infrastructure and third-party systems. The dashboards provide rich analysis and insights that helps us adjust to the changing markets.
Plasma Ag solutions have been a tremendous asset to our operations. They offer powerful capabilities such as managing Retail programs, Products, Programs, local discounts, and wraps. Ability to track inventory at physical locations, calculating true and average costs, rebates and accruals on user-friendly and simple interfaces has helped us and our retail customers adopt Plasma Ag solutions quickly.
Our software, system and processes used to be an old struggling engine. Plasma team solved all that. With exceptional training and planning, their consultative executive team down to their support team executed the deployment with first-class speed and professionalism. Their platform not only removed all the pain points in my division, but also created a ripple effect benefiting my entire company.
It has been my experience that Plasma has the technical expertise, commitment, and work-ethic to deliver best-in-class solutions that allow business owners to fully realize business strategies and objectives. They work in a highly professional manner to ensure that the clients’ requirements and recommendations are fully realized. I would highly recommend Plasma for any web enablement initiative that you may be considering.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us as our online business partner. I don’t even consider our work with them outsourcing because Plasma management takes the time to truly understand our business and is able to direct its technology resources for the most efficient and quality output possible. I don’t think you can say that about many companies in their space.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us with our online requirements. I would recommend them to any company looking to better manage their online presence.
It has been my pleasure to work with the Plasma Team since August 2008. We have completed three major builds and multiple smaller projects in this time. I heartily recommend Plasma Comp to anyone needing a workable, practical and effective system solution. Plasma’s Q&A process was extremely thorough. They quickly understood what was needed and then worked the process with pointed and penetrating questions to ensure they had the entire picture of the finished product.
I think Plasma has come a long way in embracing our philosophy of becoming more agile, both leading and following in this area when necessary. The teams have been very open to change and have a great attitude. I have no complaints!
Plasma is a great vendor to work with. They took us from an email-based process to a fully designed, web-based workflow. They have dramatically changed how our devices are certified to be used on our network and they will save you time as well! One of the many processes in our current environment has saved us so much time; from four months down to a few days!
