Big data is now helping recruiters to develop a system of fair recruitment procedure which minimizes any kind of discrimination. Acquiring and retaining talent is an important factor when it comes to human capital management. Often it is seen that the talent of many applicants or employees go unnoticed due to certain forms of discrimination or bias.  Data driven procedures and predictive analytics are making remarkable impact in reducing such discrimination in organizations. Various attributes within the organization such as revenue contribution, pay gap, additional benefits received, risk of resigning etc.  are being monitored continuously and algorithms being are designed to pin point events when a hardworking employee is not appreciated. To know more read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-loehr/big-data-for-hr-can-predi_b_6905754.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

Data analytics is no longer limited to the field of business and market research but it has spread across the financial sector as well. Stock market investors are using data driven insights and predictions to make crucial investment decisions. By observing the market conditions and various metrics related to it, the data scientists are being able to come up with accurate inferences about the market, and the data analysis is becoming increasingly precise and data intensive.  This is due to the availability of financial data and decreasing cost of information technology. The growth of analytics in this sector is likely to continue and is going to revolutionize the way financial trading is done. To know more read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-aldridge/why-big-data-matters-in-f_b_7553438.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

The healthcare sector is now exposed to data breaches as it has adopted the online mechanism, for maintain health records or say for remote patient monitoring. Data breaches are not only expensive in terms of costs incurred by the healthcare provider but also in terms of patients' lives. Data analytics helps in interpreting unstructured data, which may help to prevent not only data breaches but also (say, medical prescription) frauds.  Big data analytics allows organizations to amalgamate and analyze their data irrespective of the source, type, size or format and finally understand the patterns needed to address fraudulent activities. Again, by updating, pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals on data insights, concerning substance history information of patients, it is possible to take better prescribing decisions and identify potential prescription drug abuse. Read more at: http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/31/big-data-analytics-can-prevent-health-care-fraud-heres-how/

Sigmaway consultants have worked with clients in benefits solutions workspace providing analytics on healthcare plans. For more details visit http://www.sigmaway.us/

Smartphones are fantastic examples of devices whose success largely depends on the performance it delivers. Big data researchers are working towards developing the network, computing and cloud architecture required to sustain their projects. The sheer volume of data generated by us doubles every two years and there is an urgency to make storage devices manageable and affordable. SSA (Solid State Array) at the hardware level and SDS (Software-Defined Storage] at the software level are becoming quickly affordable. With the evolution of in-device memory, a variety of data will now come into light that may revolutionize the applications of Big Data in the mobile industry. In-memory databases will allow real-time analytics and awareness of the ‘live’ transaction data – rather than delayed ‘fact-based’ analysis of old data. Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/howardbaldwin/2015/06/22/flash-ways-to-make-big-data-run-faster/

Cut throat competition- a phrase that is enough to describe the fierce competition in today`s business scenario. Regardless of which industry one belongs to, their competitors are always there, and keeping track of their activities and decisions, most importantly searching for their customers. So it is important for business leaders to monitor the activities of their rivals as well, and keep a tab on their competitors, in order to retain customers. There are many tools for monitoring, one such tool is spyfu, which can be used to track down what the opponents are searching online. Another way is to use the social media, such as observing what the competitors are doing in public forums and how people are responding to that. To know more, read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brett-relander/know-your-competition-wit_b_7555660.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

In today`s business world, time is a precious resource, so there is increasing demand for a faster system of data analysis. An emerging open source analytics tool called spark is slowly gaining popularity and is being used for getting faster results obtained from big data analysis. Earlier many companies used and relied on Hadoop for processing and analyzing information, which used to take days to arrive at a meaningful inference. The spark analytics technology uses a completely different technique for storing data than Hadoop, with spark data is directly written in the memory rather than storing in disks, which increases the speed of data analysis remarkably.  There are also other interesting technological features for which spark is gaining attention.To know more read:  http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2015/06/03/spark-a-tool-at-big-datas-cutting-edge-helps-under-armour-perform-faster-analytics/?KEYWORDS=analytics

In recent years over the span of the last two decades, industries have been disrupted by internet competitors. People are becoming more and more interested in online or virtual shopping than to go outdoors. From newspapers to travel agencies, there are numerous sectors which have faced the heat due to e-business expansion of their counterparts. Despite this, it seemed that some business like telecom, television media etc.  were immune to this digital onslaught, but not anymore. A second wave of internet disruption threatens not only electronic and telecom business, but also industries like taxi services, banking and cosmetics. This leaves no other alternative for existing sellers other than to switch into online trading for survival. To know more read: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7688.html

Responsible for the largest and most complicated science experiment, the LHC, CERN has tried to uncover the secrets of the universe. Its major experiments are all in the domain of Big Data. How? Well the LHC single handed generates 30 Petabytes yearly. They use effective data warehousing and Big Data Analytics tools to make sense of such large amounts of raw data. Crunching all the data collected from the 600 million particle collisions per second requires enormous processing power. Distributed computing gives them access to enough processing power and storage capacity otherwise far too costly to build into one data center. The data can be accessed at greater speed by researchers wherever they are in the world now. Read more at:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-data-uncovering-secrets-our-universe-cern-bernard-marr

With increasing number of data breaches, companies should now take necessary steps to combat it. Phishing, though a fairly old method, is the most common method of attacking companies. Emails which contain phishing methods should be identified, filtered and prevented from hitting inboxes. Spam filters are already doing this task to a great extent, but creating flagging system that can filter out the necessary emails through human logging works better. Systems should be upgraded to prevent from being vulnerable to malware and malicious cyber-attacks. Misuse of system and human error should be prevented to prevent hacking. The most important way of protecting system from attacks is by educating people who use it in the best ways to protect it. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/data-breaches-aren-t-changing-but-you-should

Businesses have made use of data for operations management, for decades now. Data being used for operations management involve continuous flows of information and mining of data. Such data are handled and untangled using advanced and unique storage, management, analysis and visualization techniques. Big data analytics is usually dependent on extensive storage capacity and quick processing power. Insightful data can be gathered from various sources like web, social media etc. Big data is now being used to predict customer purchase decisions. Big data when linked with production applications and timely operational processes enables continuous improvements. Organizations are now realizing that data can bring value through continuous improvement in their operations. Thus, data needs to be collected, filtered and analyzed. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/big-data/crunching-big-data-operations-management-01255094

Analytics are now being deployed by sports clubs to buy new players. With the huge amount of data being generated, selling clubs are now looking for ways to increase the chance of their players being bought for more money and buying clubs are looking for ways to assess the potential of new players. Analytics comes into play here. Clubs are now using data to assess the potential of new players, with efforts being devoted to developing data programmes to accomplish this task. There are several companies who offer this kind of service, but a significant number of clubs have outdone, these companies with their hiring process by carrying out deeper analysis and using metrics. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/data-in-player-transfers-in-the-premier-league

Big data can be best understood using graph theory. Several open-source graph databases have come up and are used by several organizations. These databases are becoming popular as graphs are the best way for storing and querying huge amount of data. Graphs are being used by several domains of the industry as it provides competitive advantage. Social media uses graphs to provide accurate and personal recommendations to users. It is being used by a major online shopping company to compute fast and provide localized door-to-door delivery of goods. Graph databases store data safely and make querying it fast and easy. According to Dr. Marsten, creating and analyzing graphs will lead us to answers. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7132-the-key-to-understanding-big-data-lies-with-the-graph

The use of electronic cash is gaining popularity. Particularly the use of electronic cash transfer through cellular services is increasing rapidly in the developing world. It is estimated that electronic currency system will improve lives of more than 2 billion people, who live on less than 2 dollars per day. Use of electronic transaction system will facilitate more secure, accessible, and reliable ways to store and transfer money than are currently available. The most important thing in this context is the role of agents conducting cash for electronic value and vice-versa. By developing such a network a robust and efficient banking system can be developed. To know more read: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2549171

Big data and big data analytics has been a trend setter in recent years. Unlike the traditional cause-effect analysis, big data analytics generate predictions based on huge volumes of data, using statistical tools and advanced computing techniques. An interesting case study on the use of big-data analytics was the prediction of a flu pandemic in the United States by simply analyzing Google search data. The spread of the disease was detected before any medical organization or national agency, simply on the basis of people frequently searching Google for the symptoms and remedy of flu. Big data analytics enables us to generate reliable analyses, even in the absence of clear links or causes. To know more read:http://www.forbes.com/sites/huawei/2015/02/24/how-do-big-data-analytics-enhance-network-security/

“Radio, television and internet-enables computers in the 20th century created an increase in option of media channels for brands.”- Christopher Heine (Digital Editor for Adweek)
Disruption and fragmentation are causing cracks between those who make platforms and those who hold the purse strings to ad budgets. Five statements from major industry players that help them to build a good marketing strategy:
• People, let's be real here.
• More native may mean more friction.
• The pace of change nowadays can be insane for creatives.
• The good news is that progress is being made.
• Everyone’s bottom line depends on this working out.
Read more at: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/5-intriguing-takes-advertising-and-technologys-relationship-status-165409

According to David Loshin (Knowledge Integrity Inc.)," big data and analytics is helping organizations to gather and analyze data in search of valuable business information and insights that can help them improve their products and services." Cost, Simplicity and Performance are the three factors helps to lower the barrier of entry for analytics and motivate organizations to adopt a big data analytics. The organizations which are planning to integrate analytics tools into their organizations need to have a data driven culture, recognize the potential of information. Key stakeholders are aware of the benefits of big data analytics and include agility in making decisions for adopting the technology. Types of big data to analyze:

• Transaction Data
• Human-generated Data
• Mobile Data
• Machine and Sensor Data.

Big data analytics tools help you in managing all these data with a reasonable investment. Helps you in analyzing these applications:
• Customer Analytics
• Sales and Marketing Analytics
• Social Media Analytics
• Cybersecurity
• Plant and facility management
• Pipeline Management
• Supply chain and channel analytics
• Prize optimization
• Fraud Detection

Read more at: http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/feature/How-to-determine-if-big-data-analytics-tools-are-right-for-you

The emergence of analytics in business has also contributed extensively in the field of talent management. Talent analytics has become an important area in both consulting firms and corporations. Not only it helps in acquiring and attracting new talent but also helps in talent utilization and maximization of organizational performance. In earlier days talent management was done by managers who trust their “intuition” or “common sense”, which led to bias and wrong decisions. But thanks to the development of information technology and availability of expertise in the field of data analytics, talent management is following a scientific path and a better system of workforce management.To know more read:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardlawler/2015/05/20/talent-analytics-old-wine-in-new-bottles/

Growing social networks have caused rapid development of tools for understanding the interactions between members of the network. The Department of Computer Engineering, at TOBB University, in Ankara, Turkey used Social Network Analysis (SNA) tools to identify the biomarkers present in patient genomic data. Genomic databases comprise of about 20000 genes. Such an approach dramatically decreased the features that need to be analyzed to find useful biomarkers. The team demonstrated their proof of principle with three types of cancer: lymphoma, colon cancer and leukemia. They combined clustering and classification to help in detecting the links between the various genes to validate the outcome. Now they shall extend it with a view to improve diagnostics and tailoring therapy for individual patients based on their personal Biological Network Analysis. Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-06-social-networking-analysis-cancer-biomarkers.html

Data analytics with its growing importance is now used to plan mergers and acquisitions which require a well thought game plan. Throughout the buying process, data analytics can be used to see how market will respond to a deal being made. While merging with another company, data gets doubled and so it is important for employees to analyze all sets of data thus allowing business users to make better decisions. All through the M&A process employees must be trained to possess analytical process, needed to survive in this data-driven economy. Organizations must be aware of how effective and intelligent data management and analytics can help drive Mergers and Acquisitions win. Thus Big Data can offer success to M&A. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7467-the-big-data-game-plan-in-mergers-and-acquisitions

Data visualization or infographics allows us to see results in a simple manner without putting in much effort to analyze vast amount of data. The key to making visualization easy lies in making infographics that can easily convey complex data to a wide audience. People can easily relate to infographics as these graphics follow certain conventions. Deviating from these conventions can lead to confusion, making data visualization complex. Trying to fit too much information in a single infographic will make it complex to interpret. In such cases, only the important piece of information should be conveyed or maybe one can put together a series of visualization. Use of proper annotations, labelling the axes and using data wherever needed is crucial. In case of data comparisons, graphs can be made differentiable using contrasting colors. Arithmetic errors should be avoided else the infographic becomes next to useless. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/5-common-mistakes-in-data-visualizations