Big Data For Small Business For Dummies

Book description

Capitalise on big data to add value to your small business

Written by bestselling author and big data expert Bernard Marr, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you understand what big data actually is—and how you can analyse and use it to improve your business. Free of confusing jargon and complemented with lots of step-by-step guidance and helpful advice, it quickly and painlessly helps you get the most from using big data in a small business.

Business data has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, it was trapped away in overcrowded filing cabinets and on archaic floppy disks. Now, thanks to technology and new tools that display complex databases in a much simpler manner, small businesses can benefit from the big data that's been hiding right under their noses. With the help of this friendly guide, you'll discover how to get your hands on big data to develop new offerings, products and services; understand technological change; create an infrastructure; develop strategies; and make smarter business decisions.

  • Shows you how to use big data to make sense of user activity on social networks and customer transactions
  • Demonstrates how to capture, store, search, share, analyse and visualise analytics
  • Helps you turn your data into actionable insights
  • Explains how to use big data to your advantage in order to transform your small business

If you're a small business owner or employee, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you harness the hottest commodity on the market today in order to take your company to new heights.

Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Introduction
      1. About This Book
      2. Foolish Assumptions
      3. Icons Used in This Book
      4. Beyond the Book
      5. Where to Go from Here
    3. Part I: Getting Started with Big Data Basics
      1. Chapter 1: Introducing Big Data for Small Businesses
        1. Why Big Data Matters to Every Business, Big and Small
        2. Understanding Big Data in More Detail
        3. Data, Data Everywhere
        4. Making Key Big Data Decisions
        5. Making Big Data Work for You
      2. Chapter 2: Digging into the Essence of Big Data
        1. Breaking Big Data into Four Vs
        2. Understanding Why Big Data is Such Big News
        3. Why Now? A Cloud Full of Data
        4. What Next for Big Data?
      3. Chapter 3: Identifying Big Data Uses in Small Businesses
        1. Understanding Your Customers and Markets
        2. Improving Your Operations
        3. Tackling Your Key Business Enablers
        4. Predicting Performance
    4. Part II: Unpacking Big Data
      1. Chapter 4: Unpacking the Many Types of Data
        1. Deploying Order: Structured Data
        2. Coping With Messy Data: Unstructured or Semi-Structured Data
        3. Discovering the Data You Already Have (Internal Data)
        4. Accessing the Data That Is Out There (External Data)
        5. What Type of Data is Best for Me?
      2. Chapter 5: Discovering New Forms of Data
        1. Tracking Activity Data
        2. Eavesdropping on Conversations
        3. Picturing Images and Photos
        4. Sensing Your Way to New Data
        5. Discovering the Internet of Things
      3. Chapter 6: Understanding the Technology Changes that Underpin Big Data
        1. The Perfect Storm: Developments that Make Big Data Possible
        2. Breaking Down the Analytic Possibilities
    5. Part III: A Brave New World for Small Business
      1. Chapter 7: Focusing on the Value of Insights
        1. Moving from Data to Insights to Knowledge
        2. Getting Insights to the People Who Need Them
        3. Getting the Insights to the Machines that Need Them
      2. Chapter 8: Developing and Accessing Big Data Competencies
        1. Big Data and the Skills Shortage Challenge
        2. Six Key Big Data Skills Any Business Needs
        3. Understanding Two Very Different Types of Data Scientist
        4. Building Big Data Skills In-House
        5. Sourcing External Skills
      3. Chapter 9: Building a Big Data Infrastructure
        1. Making Big Data Infrastructure Decisions
        2. Big Data on a Budget: Introducing Big Data as a Service
        3. Introducing the Four Layers of Big Data
        4. Sourcing Your Data
        5. Storing Big Data
        6. Turning Data into Insights
        7. Presenting the Insights
    6. Part IV: Show Time! Making Big Data Work for Small Business
      1. Chapter 10: Creating a Big Data Strategy
        1. Deciding How to Use Big Data
        2. Small Can be Beautiful: How Not to Collect Everything
        3. The Key Steps in Creating Your Big Data Strategy
      2. Chapter 11: Applying Data in Your Business: Decision Making
        1. Starting with Strategy
        2. Honing in on the Business Area
        3. Identifying Your Unanswered Questions
        4. Finding the Data to Answer Your Questions
        5. Identifying What You Already Have or Have Access To
        6. Working Out if the Costs and Effort Are Justified
        7. Collecting the Data
        8. Analysing the Data
        9. Presenting and Distributing the Insights
        10. Incorporating the Learning into the Business
      3. Chapter 12: Applying Data in Your Business: Operations
        1. Understanding the Role of Data
        2. Sourcing the Required Data
        3. Weighing up Costs and Benefits
        4. Securing Ownership
        5. Managing the Data
        6. Establishing Infrastructure and Technology
        7. Testing and Piloting Operations
        8. Transforming Your Operations
      4. Chapter 13: Creating a Big Data Culture in Your Business
        1. Moving to Fact-Based Decision Making
        2. Allowing Data to Influence Strategy
        3. Identifying New or Additional Business Models
    7. Part V: The Part of Tens
      1. Chapter 14: Ten Biggest Big Data Mistakes to Avoid
        1. Collecting Data on Everything
        2. Collecting Only the Fashionable Data
        3. Going Straight to External Unstructured Big Data
        4. Getting Overwhelmed by the Volume of Existing Data
        5. Ignoring Small Data
        6. Throwing Money at the Problem
        7. Not Matching Big Data to Your Strategic Questions
        8. Not Involving the Right People in Your Big Data Strategy
        9. Collecting the Data and Not Analysing It
        10. Analysing the Data but Not Reporting the Results in a User-friendly Way
      2. Chapter 15: Ten Free Big Data Sources
        1. Data.gov (US Government Data)
        2. US Census Bureau
        3. European Union Open Data Portal
        4. Data.gov.uk
        5. HealthData.gov
        6. Google Trends
        7. Facebook Graph
        8. Weather Data Sources
        9. Federal Reserve Economic Data
        10. Google Maps
      3. Chapter 16: Ten Key Big Data Collection Tools
        1. Smartphone GPS Sensor
        2. Smartphone Accelerometer Sensor
        3. Telematics System
        4. Wi-Fi Signals
        5. LinkedIn
        6. Facebook
        7. Twitter
        8. Machine Sensors
        9. Transaction Data
        10. Finance Data
    8. About the Author
    9. Cheat Sheet
    10. Connect with Dummies
    11. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Big Data For Small Business For Dummies
  • Author(s): Bernard Marr
  • Release date: January 2016
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119027034