In today’s dynamic business environment, Big Data offers growth opportunities to companies who are successfully able to exploit it to find user behaviour patterns. At the same time, with the availability of so much data, there is growing cause for concern of network security for businesses. The available amount of data is exploding, and analysing large data sets, so-called Big Data, is becoming a key basis for competition, underpinning new waves of productivity, innovation, and consumer surplus, according to research by MGI and McKinsey's Business Technology Office.

The same Mckinsey study estimates that retailers leveraging Big Data can increase their operating margin by about 60%. Big Data allows for an optimising of operations internally with huge implications for HR. Employee interaction with clients and work culture can be monitored and it helps segment and target potential customers more astutely. Big Data can be used to conduct experiments and test hypothesis in a way that is inexpensive and could yield huge dividends.

What are some other ways Big Data analytics can be applied? The answer is — in many ways! A service industry uses big data to enhance customer satisfaction whereas a commodity based industry uses it to enhance efficiency and thereby profitably.  An airline optimises its price strategies daily based on big data analytics. A bank improves its customer satisfaction. A retailer optimises its supply chain for how much inventory to hold versus the demand of its consumers in the market. Data from technology like sensors sent with a product meant for delivery can be used to assess and improve the supply chain.


When it comes to SMEs, Research and Markets published a report that forecast that big data use by SMEs will witness a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 43% by year 2018. Much momentum is being built in incorporating Data Analytics into operations by SMEs and their investment into Big Data will continue. Big Data helps make faster decisions, determine and leverage changes in price, understand markets, start campaigns, obtain an edge in the industry and do customer profiling in a way that could never be done before.

Now that your business has collected and stored data, the first question that arises is this — how will you protect your valuable data keeping mind the regulatory compliances and cost effectiveness of the required in-house IT operations? Big Data can also be a boundless source for breach of security and personal identities in some industries like Healthcare, Education and Finance. As larger amounts of data are generated, stored, analysed and reported on, security concerns will continue to be a growing challenge

According to a global survey undertaken by Avanade, influx of Big Data is putting a strain on IT infrastructure. 55% of the respondents reported the problem of a slowdown of IT systems and 47% cited data security problems. ‘87% of companies who lose data go out of business within a year’ according to a study by the Information Technology Group based out of the Connecticut in the US. 

A successful business works on the basis of revenue growth and loss prevention. Businesses are hit hard when either one of these suffer. The failure or success of a company is partly due to their network security and their ability to avoid any data leakage. Data leakage, downtime and reputation loss can easily turn away new and existing customers if such situations are not handled appropriately and quickly. This may, in turn, impact the company’s bottom line and ultimately profit margins. Dedicated MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers) offer strategic data management solutions that help you to heighten your return on investment (ROI); meet audit compliance and industry regulations, while simultaneously mitigate the risk of security threats.