Big Data deals with large chunks of data set and analyzes it to make patterns
or trends used for insights and many other purposes. The data keeps growing at
a rapid pace with each day passing by and this demands a need for big data
solutions to streamline and manage the data. Since most of today’s businesses are
data-driven, they are in a great need for big data services.
Back to the time when Big Data has just laid its roots, this
technology was affordable only to organizations of greater scale. Organizations
with skilled manpower and has channels to collect, store and analyze data could
only go for it. However, now the situation has changed entirely. Even
small-scale organizations are accessible to big data services. This technology
extends to the cloud made it further easier for organizations of different scales
to take advantage of it.

Image source: Unsplash
It is true that the data has been
increasing a lot, but most of it is unstructured data. What happens if we
cannot obtain any actionable insights from all the unstructured data we have?
This is a big challenge to the use of growing data. Here Big Data comes into
the picture. It creates a great opportunity for business to convert their
unstructured data into actionable insights and helping in their business
growth.
Let us look
at the Top Big Data trends in 2019 and a few years ahead.
Quantum computing – The next big
thing
Even though there are many tools to
analyze and interpret data, it is challenging at times. But, not anymore with
quantum computing. Quantum computing is emerging as the next big thing in the
field of analytics and big data. Quantum computing helps in making timely
decisions and reduces the time a lot. Many tech giants are already working to
build a quantum computer. Using Quantum computing, we can do data encryption,
and get real-time solutions easily.
The Internet of Things – a buzz
One of the most heard trends for a
couple of years – Internet of
Things (IoT). In this internet driven world, not just mobiles but
also many devices are getting access to the internet. This all comes under the Internet
of Things. For example, Google home, Alexa is an example of an IoT. Even
Facebook and many other companies are working to develop a similar system and many
IoT devices.

Image source: Unsplash (IoT)
But, does this in any way matter to
Big Data? Yes, it does. A lot of data will be produced from these devices. This
large data has to be structured into actionable insights by different tracking
patterns, trends, customer analysis, etc.
Predictive analytics – the future
of marketing
Predictive analytics has been
gaining much importance these days although it has been around for a while.
Organizations started realizing its true potential. Predictive consumer
behavior helps companies tailor their product or service according to the interest of the consumer and helps in the growth of their product/service
sales. There are many industries where it can play a key role, for instance, we
can predict the failure of the manufacturing equipment or any medical
equipment.

Image source: Unsplash (Analytics)
Rise of Dark data
Data plays a great role in any
industry or company. However, there is much data that cannot be used for
analysis or making any decisions – such data is termed as “Dark Data”. Even though dark data is rising,
with the help of Big Data Analytics, this can be converted into digital form
and can be used for analysis on the cloud. The chance of data being lost and
any potential security risk can be subsidized from the dark data.
A surge in Open source data tools
In recent times, there is a quick
increase in the number of open-source tools. Many free and open source tools
are already available on the cloud and many are being uploaded. Tools like
Hadoop, Cassandra, etc. will come to the forefront and these will come as an
upgrade to the existing one. In addition, the open source tools are much
cheaper than the licensed ones and are a greater benefit to the small and
medium-sized enterprises.
