Small Businesses Invest in Cloud-Based Data Analytics
Data analytics is working its way into small business processes, thanks in part to cloud computing. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers along with the on-demand analytics solution vendors make big data analytics very affordable. This Forbes report offers further insight as to how small businesses can take advantage of cloud-based data analytics to help grow their existing business or uncover new opportunities.
“So, perhaps you are now convinced that big data analytics is becoming cheap but are wondering what demand from small companies will really be. After all, don't small companies have small data? Do they really have the skill sets required for big data analytics? Are the solutions available to these small companies really as good as what the big players have access to? The answers to these questions may surprise you.
“All companies have big data whether they realize it or not. Certainly, most online businesses, large or small, will collect large volumes of data from their Web logs and clickstream data. But internal data can be just a small part of the big data portfolio as the number of publicly available data sources grows. Consider that the World Bank makes its statistical data about the entire world available online or that all Twitter data since March 2006 will soon be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. Further, there are plenty of news and investment data services that offer low-cost access to their information and their prices keep dropping.”
