No company can operate without data in modern times. With large volumes of data being created each second from transactions, customer logs, sales figures, and company stakeholders, data is the key fuel that steers a company forward. All these inbound data collects into piles and forms a huge set of data known as Big Data.
Big Data needs to be evaluated and analyzed for improving decisions for the business. However, some key issues are revolving around this data that companies face regularly. These challenges include the quality of data, its storage problems, the dearth of professionals skilled in data science, data validation, and data collection from diverse sources. This post will delve into these problems surrounding Big Data and closely examine how companies can overcome them to gain a competitive edge in the market.
What are the prime challenges of Big Data companies face today?
Many organizations become stuck at the outset of the projects that deal with Big Data. This is because they are not aware of its challenges nor have the skills to tackle them. If you are one of such you need to take steps to implement it correctly. Given below are the issues companies faces with Big Data-
They do not understand Big Data correctly
Most organizations fail in their Big Data initiatives primarily because they fail to understand it. Employees do not even know what Big Data is and how it should be stored. They are unaware of how it should be processed, its importance, and the sources from where it is generated. Experts in the field of Big Data say that many qualified data professionals are aware of how Big Data works; however, some still do not have a clear understanding of what it is.
They are acquainted with the term but fail to explain its meaning and importance for a modern business accurately. For instance, employees often fail to comprehend data storage's significance, and they do not keep a backup of sensitive data. They may not use the database correctly for storing data. This results in problems as when sensitive or crucial data is needed; it cannot be retrieved.
Solution- In order to tackle the above problem, seminars and workshops should be organized at companies for all the employees. The company should arrange basic employee training problems for the staff that will manage data daily and those that are a part of projects that involve Big Data. In short, everyone should be given a basic understanding of all the concepts of Big Data at all levels in the organization.
Problems in data growth
One of the biggest challenges organizations face with Big Data is storing huge data sets correctly. The volume of data that is stored in databases and data centers of companies are growing at an exponential rate. As the data volume grows with time, it is challenging for businesses to tackle this data. Most of it is unstructured and derived from documents, text files, videos, and other sources. They cannot be found in databases, making the problem even difficult for companies to tackle.
Solution- To tackle these huge data sets, specialists from esteemed database management and administration company, Decipher recommends that companies embrace modern techniques like tiering, compression, and deduplication. The compression is deployed for reducing the volume of bits in data resulting in a reduction of its size. Deduplication refers to the process of eliminating unwanted or duplicated data from data- sets.
On the other hand, data tiering permits the organization to store the data into different storage tiers. This ensures the data that stays in the proper storage space. These data tiers can be public, private, or flash storage. The storage tier chosen should depend upon the size and the importance of the data. Some companies are choosing tools for Big Data like NoSQL, Hadoop, and other modern technologies. This, again, leads them to the next challenge.
Confusion when it comes to choosing the best tool for Big Data
Organizations face a lot of confusion before choosing the best tool for the analysis and storage of Big Data. There are questions like whether Cassandra or HBase will be the best option for storage or whether Hadoop MapReduce is good enough for data storage or should Spark be the best alternative for the storage and analytics of Big Data? These are just some of the questions that worry companies, and most of the time, they are unable to get the answers. They land up, making poor choices, and they choose the wrong technology. This often results in a waste of time, effort, and money.
Solution- The only way for you to go about the above is to ask for the professional help from experienced and qualified database management and administration consultants. You can hire them full-time for your business, or you may consult credible remote. IT managed services to assist you in your choice. These experts are aware of modern tools that help you with Big Data storage and analytics. They will evaluate your business's unique needs to devise a customized strategy for you to get the best business tool for Big Data.
Unfortunately, several companies that manage Big Data deal with the above problems throughout the year. They hardly know what the right solution to these challenges is. The organizations that consult consultants in database management and administration to tackle Big Data challenges are much better off than those that don't. They can grab the strategic edge with Big Data solutions customized to the specific needs of their business.
For those businesses without professional IT support and consulting, the fight to tackle Big Data is indeed a never-ending one. However, even if you are a small enterprise, you must seek the help of specialist database management and administration professionals remotely to help you embrace Big Data to make it work effectively for your company. In doing so, you will witness a remarkable improvement in your business's growth and development over time!