Big Data For Small Business For Dummies

Chapter 3

Identifying Big Data Uses in Small Businesses

In This Chapter

Understanding how big data matters to small businesses

Looking at the most common uses for big data in business

Getting to grips with the predictive power of data

Checking the numbers

In 2014, market research revealed that 70 per cent of businesses had either launched a big data strategy, or were planning one for the near future. You may think this applies to big-budget corporations only, using data to get even bigger. Does big data provide the same opportunities for small business and independent traders? Absolutely!

While the big players can rely on their own customer databases and monitoring processes to improve their analytics, the average small business has less self-generated data. But this doesn’t mean big data is off limits. Small businesses can benefit from existing big data that’s already out there, buy big data services and become more focused on collecting their own data.

In many ways, big data is ...