Come 2020, every person in the world will be creating 7 MBs of data every second. We have already created more data in past couple of years than in the entire history of human kind. Big data has taken the world by storm and there are no signs of slowing down. You might be thinking, "Where would big data industry go from here?" Here are 10 big data predictions that will answer your intriguing question.
1. Machine Learning Will Be the Next Big Thing in Big Data
One of the hottest technology trends today is machine learning and it will play a big part in the future of big data as well. According to Ovum, Machine learning will be at the forefront of the big data revolution. It will help businesses in preparing data and conduct predictive analysis so that businesses can overcome future challenges easily.2. Privacy Will Be the Biggest Challenge
Whether it is the internet of things or big data, the biggest challenge for emerging technologies has been security and privacy of data. The volume of data we are creating right now and the volume of data that will be created in the future will make privacy even more important as stakes will be much higher. According to Gartner, more than 50% of business ethics violation by 2018 will be data related. Data security and privacy concerns will be the biggest hurdle for big data industry and if it fails to cope with it in an effective manner, we will see a long list of technology trends that became a fad very quickly.3. Chief Data Officer: A New Position Will Emerge
You might be familiar with Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) but have you ever heard about Chief Data Officer (CDO)? If your answer is no, do not worry because you will soon come to know about it. According to Forrester, we will see the emergence of chief data officer as the new position and businesses will appoint chief data officers. Although, the appointment of chief data officer solely depend on the type of business and its data needs but the wider adoption of big data technologies across enterprises, hiring a chief data officer will become the norm.4. Data Scientists Will Be In High Demand
If you are still not quite sure about which career path to choose then, there is no better time to start your career in data sciences. As the volume of data grows and big data grows bigger, demand for data scientists, analysts and data management experts will shoot up. The gap between the demand for data professionals and the availability will widen. This will help data scientists and analysts draw higher salaries. What are you waiting for? Dive into the world of data sciences and have a brighter future.5. Businesses Will Buy Algorithms, Instead of Software
We will see a 360-degree shift in business approach towards software. More and more businesses will look to purchase algorithm instead of creating their own. After buying an algorithm, businesses can add their own data to it. It provides businesses with more customization options as compared to when they are buying software. You cannot tweak software according to your needs. In fact, it is the other way around. Your business will have to adjust according to the software processes but all this will end soon with algorithms selling services taking center stage.6. Investments in Big Data Technologies Will Skyrocket
According to IDC analysts, "Total revenues from big data and business analytics will rise from $122 billion in 2015 to $187 billion in 2019." Business spending on big data will surpass $57 billion dollars this year. Although, the business investments in big data might vary from industry to industry, the increase in big data spending will remain consistent overall. Manufacturing industry will spend the most on big data technology while health care, banking, and resource industries will be the fastest to adopt.7. More Developers Will Join the Big Data Revolution
According to statistics, there are six million developers currently working with big data and using advanced analytics. This makes up more than 33% of developers in the world. What's even more amazing is that big data is just getting starting so will see a surge in a number of developer developing applications for big data in years to come. With the financial rewards in terms of higher salaries involved, developers will love to create applications that can play around with big data.8. Prescriptive Analytics Will Become an Integral Part of BI Software
Gone are the days when businesses have to purchase dedicated software for everything. Today, businesses demand single software that provides all the features they need and software companies and giving them that. Business intelligence software is also following that trend and we will see prescriptive analysis capabilities added to this software in the future.
IDC predicts that half of the business analytics software will incorporate prescriptive analytics build on cognitive computing functionality. This will help businesses to make intelligent decisions at the right time. With intelligence built into the software, you can sift through large amounts of data quickly and get a competitive advantage over your competitors.
9. Big Data Will Help You Break Productivity Records
None of your future investments will deliver a higher return on your investment than if you invest in big data, especially when it comes to boosting your business productivity. To give you a better idea, let us put numbers into perspective. According to IDC, organizations that invest in this technology and attain capabilities to analyze large amounts of data quickly and extract actionable information can get an extra $430 billion in terms of productivity benefits over their competitors. Yes, you read that right, $430 billion dollars. Remember, actionable is the key word here. You need actionable information to take your productivity to new heights.10. Big Data Will Be Replaced By Fast and Actionable Data
According to some big data experts, big data is dead. They argue that businesses do not even use a small portion of data they have access to and big does not always mean better. Sooner rather than later, big data will be replaced by fast and actionable data, which will help businesses, take the right decisions at the right time. Having tremendous amounts of data will not give you a competitive advantage over your competitors but how effectively and quickly you analyze the data and extract actionable information from it will.