8December 2016Big Data is all aroundBy Scott Hannagan, CIO, Leavitt GroupRecently, I was commuting frequently to a site which needed some issues addressed. On the third trip to that office, I noticed that when my phone connected to the bluetooth of my vehicle, it popped up a notification letting me know how the traffic was to the location, slowdowns, and alternate routes. I looked at it for a minute thinking "how did it know I was going to that location again?" My travel had not been routine and I had not used the GPS on my phone to get there before. This is where "Big Data" and data analytics were used to give me pertinent information that I could use for my trip. If you think about the information it put together to provide me with that data, it is quite impressive. First, the app knew I was going to drive somewhere because it connected to my vehicle's Bluetooth. Then, it knew from data mining where I was going and the traffic information along the route. The traffic information would have been from a host of sources like other cell phones, historical information about that route, other apps and public traffic sites. All of that data was being crunched in real time to provide me with helpful information for my journey. Data analytics are now being used in a host of other areas. Recently, I went into a shopping mall that offered an app for your phone. This app would allow you to search for stores and it would guide you to them with GPS, providing discounts for merchants along the way. I downloaded the app and used it. It was a great experience. While it gives beneficial information, offers discounts to retailers and services that are useful to the consumer, imagine how the data it collects would be useful to the mall administrators. Not only would it let them know where consumers shop, they would know the paths people travel, what entrances people use, where they park, how often they visit and a number of other data points that could help determine where to place advertisements, stores and services. The possibilities are abundant with the data that can be collected. In the insurance industry, more and more companies are starting to use Big Data. Some have already started using devices to collect data about driving habits and then use that information to evaluate the risk of the driver and assign the appropriate premium. The insurance industry is just now starting to leverage the incredible amount of data that we have. While we obtain specific information about a customer's home, vehicles and businesses, we actually may have additional data that we are not using or sources of additional data we can tap into. Depending on our relationship with the customer we may know random facts. For example, perhaps they have discussed where they like to vacation, when their children might start driving, or a number of other facts that can fill out the details around potential risk and opportunity. We can also obtain public record information to help complete the picture of our current data. These unstructured data points can add value to the information we already have, and can IN MY OPINION
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