Big Data For Small Business For Dummies E-Book

Bernard Marr

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 424

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Capitalise on big data to add value to your small business Written by bestselling author and big data expert Bernard Marr, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you understand what big data actually is--and how you can analyse and use it to improve your business. Free of confusing jargon and complemented with lots of step-by-step guidance and helpful advice, it quickly and painlessly helps you get the most from using big data in a small business. Business data has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, it was trapped away in overcrowded filing cabinets and on archaic floppy disks. Now, thanks to technology and new tools that display complex databases in a much simpler manner, small businesses can benefit from the big data that's been hiding right under their noses. With the help of this friendly guide, you'll discover how to get your hands on big data to develop new offerings, products and services; understand technological change; create an infrastructure; develop strategies; and make smarter business decisions. * Shows you how to use big data to make sense of user activity on social networks and customer transactions * Demonstrates how to capture, store, search, share, analyse and visualise analytics * Helps you turn your data into actionable insights * Explains how to use big data to your advantage in order to transform your small business If you're a small business owner or employee, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you harness the hottest commodity on the market today in order to take your company to new heights.

Leseprobe

Big Data for Small Business For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester,www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2016

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Big Data for Small Business For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/bigdataforsmallbusiness to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Cover

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with Big Data Basics

Chapter 1: Introducing Big Data for Small Businesses

Why Big Data Matters to Every Business, Big and Small

Understanding Big Data in More Detail

Data, Data Everywhere

Making Key Big Data Decisions

Making Big Data Work for You

Chapter 2: Digging into the Essence of Big Data

Breaking Big Data into Four Vs

Understanding Why Big Data is Such Big News

Why Now? A Cloud Full of Data

What Next for Big Data?

Chapter 3: Identifying Big Data Uses in Small Businesses

Understanding Your Customers and Markets

Improving Your Operations

Tackling Your Key Business Enablers

Predicting Performance

Part II: Unpacking Big Data

Chapter 4: Unpacking the Many Types of Data

Deploying Order: Structured Data

Coping With Messy Data: Unstructured or Semi-Structured Data

Discovering the Data You Already Have (Internal Data)

Accessing the Data That Is Out There (External Data)

What Type of Data is Best for Me?

Chapter 5: Discovering New Forms of Data

Tracking Activity Data

Eavesdropping on Conversations

Picturing Images and Photos

Sensing Your Way to New Data

Discovering the Internet of Things

Chapter 6: Understanding the Technology Changes that Underpin Big Data

The Perfect Storm: Developments that Make Big Data Possible

Breaking Down the Analytic Possibilities

Part III: A Brave New World for Small Business

Chapter 7: Focusing on the Value of Insights

Moving from Data to Insights to Knowledge

Getting Insights to the People Who Need Them

Getting the Insights to the Machines that Need Them

Chapter 8: Developing and Accessing Big Data Competencies

Big Data and the Skills Shortage Challenge

Six Key Big Data Skills Any Business Needs

Understanding Two Very Different Types of Data Scientist

Building Big Data Skills In-House

Sourcing External Skills

Chapter 9: Building a Big Data Infrastructure

Making Big Data Infrastructure Decisions

Big Data on a Budget: Introducing Big Data as a Service

Introducing the Four Layers of Big Data

Sourcing Your Data

Storing Big Data

Turning Data into Insights

Presenting the Insights

Part IV: Show Time! Making Big Data Work for Small Business

Chapter 10: Creating a Big Data Strategy

Deciding How to Use Big Data

Small Can be Beautiful: How Not to Collect Everything

The Key Steps in Creating Your Big Data Strategy

Chapter 11: Applying Data in Your Business: Decision Making

Starting with Strategy

Honing in on the Business Area

Identifying Your Unanswered Questions

Finding the Data to Answer Your Questions

Identifying What You Already Have or Have Access To

Working Out if the Costs and Effort Are Justified

Collecting the Data

Analysing the Data

Presenting and Distributing the Insights

Incorporating the Learning into the Business

Chapter 12: Applying Data in Your Business: Operations

Understanding the Role of Data

Sourcing the Required Data

Weighing up Costs and Benefits

Securing Ownership

Managing the Data

Establishing Infrastructure and Technology

Testing and Piloting Operations

Transforming Your Operations

Chapter 13: Creating a Big Data Culture in Your Business

Moving to Fact-Based Decision Making

Allowing Data to Influence Strategy

Identifying New or Additional Business Models

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 14: Ten Biggest Big Data Mistakes to Avoid

Collecting Data on Everything

Collecting Only the Fashionable Data

Going Straight to External Unstructured Big Data

Getting Overwhelmed by the Volume of Existing Data

Ignoring Small Data

Throwing Money at the Problem

Not Matching Big Data to Your Strategic Questions

Not Involving the Right People in Your Big Data Strategy

Collecting the Data and Not Analysing It

Analysing the Data but Not Reporting the Results in a User-friendly Way

Chapter 15: Ten Free Big Data Sources

Data.gov (US Government Data)

US Census Bureau

European Union Open Data Portal

Data.gov.uk

HealthData.gov

Google Trends

Facebook Graph

Weather Data Sources

Federal Reserve Economic Data

Google Maps

Chapter 16: Ten Key Big Data Collection Tools

Smartphone GPS Sensor

Smartphone Accelerometer Sensor

Telematics System

Wi-Fi Signals

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Machine Sensors

Transaction Data

Finance Data

About the Author

Cheat Sheet

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Introduction

Almost everything we do now leaves a digital trace. If you bought this book online, you left a trail of digital crumbs in your wake, from browsing the online retailer’s website, to the transaction itself. Even if you walked into a physical bookstore and paid with cash, there’s still likely to be a digital trail of your activities, including CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage and location data from your own phone.

These digital traces can be summed up in one phrase: big data. Big data refers to the ability to collect and analyse the vast amounts of data now being generated in the world. This ability to harness the ever-expanding amounts of data is completely transforming our ability to understand the world and everything within it – from healthcare and science to how entire cities and countries are run. And, of course, it’s transforming the way we do business.

Some business owners and managers dismiss big data as being only for big-budget corporations. I think this is a huge mistake. Of course it’s true that some companies have eye-watering budgets for big data analytics, but most simply don’t. In fact, I work with plenty of small- and medium-sized businesses that successfully harness the power of data without spending a fortune.

The key is to start with a clear strategy. This allows you to focus solely on the data that’s right for you – the data that will help you achieve your long-term business goals. Having a clear strategy helps you cut through the hype and noise surrounding big data and get straight to how it can realistically help you improve the way you do business. That’s why I wrote Big Data for Small Business For Dummies: to help SMEs (small and medium enterprises) use big data in a practical and strategic way.

Whether you’re planning a one-off data project or want to incorporate data into your ongoing business operations, this book can help you understand what big data is, how you can apply it to your business, how to create your own big data strategy and get underway and how to build a culture that emphasises data-based decision making and continuous improvement.

About This Book

Think of this book as a no-nonsense tour guide to help you on your big data journey. There are lots of inspirational examples of how other businesses are already using data, but the focus remains on practical tips to get you using data in your business. As well as examples and tips, the book is packed with step-by-step guidelines and lists designed to help you get the most out of big data. All the information is designed to be accessible and easy to understand. And where I have to resort to technical jargon, I give clear definitions. Sidebars (the grey boxes) contain nice-to-know but not essential information, so you can easily skip over them if you like.

The book is designed as a resource that you can dip in and out of and return to time and time again. As such, you don’t need to read it from cover to cover (although, if you want to, go ahead!). It’s designed to be read in whatever order works best for you.

Finally, if you decide to visit a website listed in the book then you just need to copy the URL (uniform resource locator) exactly as it appears in the book. This is true even if the address falls between two lines or two pages – no extra characters (such as hyphens) were inserted.

Foolish Assumptions

Every author has a target audience in mind when he writes. For this book, I assume that you’re the owner of a small/medium business or a manager in such a business. I assume that you’ve heard a little about big data already – perhaps what a powerful tool it can be for businesses – and you want to know more. I don’t assume you have any prior technical knowledge whatsoever. Crucially, whether you’re a business owner or manager, I assume that you want to improve the way you do business and you’re in a position to make strategic decisions … and then act upon them.

If you would like to supplement this book with more technical information, you might like to check out Big Data For Dummies by Judith Hurwitz, Alan Nugent, Fern Halper and Marcia Kaufman, published by Wiley.

Icons Used in This Book

When I see a huge wall of text, I start to switch off. So in this book I use a number of icons to break the text up, and to make it easier and more enjoyable to read. The icons also help you spot key information quickly.

These indicate expert advice or suggestions to help your big data journey go more smoothly. They help you save time, energy or money and are based on my experiences working with other businesses.

This icon flags critical material that you should store away in your memory for later use. But don’t worry – they’re usually very short.

As the name suggests, this icon flags potential pitfalls that you need to avoid as you start using big data.

Where I’ve had to use data-related jargon (for example, if it’s a key industry term that you need to know), I highlight it using this icon.

I believe real-life examples bring information to life and I included tons of examples throughout the book that show how other businesses are already using big data. Some of these are small-scale data projects, others are much larger, and some are just plain weird and wonderful! But all are designed to demonstrate the exciting potential of big data and give you a few practical ideas for your own business.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the Web.

Check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/bigdataforsmallbusiness for some helpful key information and checklists. It’s designed as a quick-check reference for some crucial big data information, including a handy list of key terminology.

There are also some useful bonus articles and an additional Part of Tens chapter available on the website. Head to www.dummies.com/extras/bigdataforsmallbusiness to access these.

You may also like to check out the website of the Advanced Performance Institute, which I founded and head up. There you’ll find many relevant case studies, white papers and reading material on big data: www.ap-institute.com. I also write regularly for Forbes magazine on all things big data and you can find my articles at www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr. My LinkedIn page also contains a wealth of articles and posts on big data: www.linkedin.com/in/bernardmarr.

Where to Go from Here

The short answer is: It’s up to you. You don’t have to start at Chapter 1 and work your way through the book in a linear way – but you can if you want to.

If you’re completely new to big data, I recommend you start with the Chapters in Part I for an explanation of what big data is and the main ways it can be used in business. Otherwise, simply use the table of contents to find what you’re most interested in and jump straight to that section. If you want to start by finding out exactly how to create a big data strategy, turn to Chapter 10. If you’re interested more in big data skills and competencies, start with Chapter 8. Wherever you go from here, you’ll find a wealth of information and tips to help you start using big data in your business.

Part I

Getting Started with Big Data Basics

For Dummies can help you get started with lots of subjects. Go to www.dummies.com to find out more and do more with For Dummies.

In this part …

Understand what big data is and why you need to know about it.

Find out the key characteristics that define big data.

See why there’s so much hype around big data right now – and why all the fuss is justified.

Check out key big data uses for small businesses.