Another IT Business Edge presentation on big data (http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/six-reasons-businesses-need-to-pay-attention-to-unstructured-data.html).

1. Click through for six reasons businesses across all industries need to pay attention to
unstructured data to gain valuable intelligence and insight from their companies,
products, customers and markets.
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2. This is an astounding statistic, especially when you think of the terabytes of data that
businesses are creating each day. The majority of that stored information is
unstructured data and it is jam-packed with information that businesses can leverage
to learn about their products, customers and markets. Think about the numerous
proposals, plans and customer reports that people in an organization create on a
daily basis and the insight that can be pulled and re-used from this unstructured data.
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3. Unstructured data has not indicated any type of slow down. In fact, businesses have
created more data in the last two years than the previous six decades. We live in a
society that is constantly creating data through our rampant use of email, social
media, Microsoft Word and many more applications and programs. Every minute of
every day, people send more than 200 million emails, 100,000 tweets, and upload 48
hours of video to YouTube.
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4. The analysis of unstructured data, specifically social data created by tweets and
Facebook posts, can provide great insights into how a company is perceived by the
public. It can also highlight any issues customers are facing in regard to products that
employees can respond to and correct, improving customer satisfaction.
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5. The insight gained from unstructured data into consumer behaviors can be applied across
every market. For example, retailers can analyze unstructured data to predict customer
responses to marketing campaigns, allowing them to better target and sell to consumers.
Educational institutions can gain insight into student behaviors by analyzing unstructured
data they produce. This enables education professionals to more effectively identify students
who require additional assistance, improving students’ well-being. Health care organizations
and professionals can analyze unstructured patient data to predict how likely someone is to
develop certain diseases.
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6. Unstructured data includes business documents that staff members create. Think
about the time employees spend generating proposals, reports, presentations and
strategies. That is all time spent creating unstructured data. The creation is not the
only time sink, the management and analysis of such data is complicated and time
consuming, as it often requires customized data management systems. Organizations
need to think about unstructured data now and determine their goals early so that
they can reap the benefits of unstructured data effectively.
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7. Companies of all sizes are moving towards unified information access – linking and combining
their structured data and their unstructured data to break down information silos and
present a cohesive view into a business. For example, if a customer service representative is
speaking with a current customer who is encountering issues with a product, she will need
access to structured information about the status and history of this customer. She will also
need to look at unstructured data, such as email correspondences and past issues he has
encountered. By combining the data, employees and businesses save time and make better
decisions.
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