Such data is so large and complex that none of the traditional data management tools are able to store it or process it efficiently.

Big Data could be found in three forms:

Structured

Unstructured

Semi-structured

Some define Big Data using the three V’s technique:

1). Volume: Organizations collect data from a variety of sources, including business transactions, smart (IoT) devices, industrial equipment, videos, social media and more. In the past, storing it would have been a problem – but cheaper storage on platforms like data lakes and Hadoop have eased the burden.

2). Velocity: With the growth in the Internet of Things, data streams in to businesses at an unprecedented speed and must be handled in a timely manner. RFID tags, sensors and smart meters are driving the need to deal with these torrents of data in near-real time.

3). Variety: Data comes in all types of formats – from structured, numeric data in traditional databases to unstructured text documents, emails, videos, audios, stock ticker data and financial transactions.

In addition to the increasing velocities and varieties of data, data flows are unpredictable – changing often and varying greatly. It’s challenging, but businesses need to know when something is trending in social media, and how to manage daily, seasonal and event-triggered peak data loads.

Big data is a big deal for industries. The onslaught of IoT and other connected devices has created a massive uptick in the amount of information organizations collect, manage and analyse. Along with big data comes the potential to unlock big insights – for every industry, large to small.