Opportunities for Big Data with Cloud Computing

Article Written by Agnieszka Podemska

The term "big data" refers to sets of structured and unstructured digital data that are too complex and voluminous to be processed by traditional technologies. These sets of data can be mined for information by businesses. Big data is often described using 5 V’s: Volume, Velocity, Variety, Veracity and Value. Volume refers of course to the large amount of data that needs to be processed. This data involves e-mail messages, photos, videos, voice recordings and social media posts. Velocity concerns the speed at which new data is generated. Variety refers to different types of data. Veracity relates to the reliability and relevance of the given data. Value equals to the profit businesses can gain by having access to big data. 

In order to store all the data we need innovative big data technologies that go beyond  traditional database solutions. Cloud computing enables efficient big data processing and it is available for businesses of all sizes. The current technological advancements in cloud computing for big data processing open new opportunities for businesses:

Agility

Thanks to virtual servers, data owned by the company can be migrated to the cloud in a matter of minutes. The data can be accessed immediately by anyone who has access to it and the Internet connection. With the growing amount of data companies need to deal with, traditional solutions would take months to achieve the same results of data migration and processing.

Cost-effectiveness

The cloud computing resources are available to any company and do not require much budget. Thanks to the pay-as-you-go system clients only pay for the utilized services instead of wasting money on resources that may never be used by them. They can pay hourly rates for the actual storage space and computing power. In the past, companies needed to spend a lot of capital on IT systems which managed the data. They also needed to worry about regular updates of the hardware.

More effective data processing

The constant increase in the volume of big data requires equally powerful processing tools. Big data analytics tools allow for a controlled management of company’s data. Companies may decide on adopting open-source software utilities such as Apache Hadoop which facilitate cloud computing by providing a software framework for distributed storage and processing of big data with the use of a  programming model called MapReduce. 

Effective cloud computing involves making sure clouds are scalable – resources are added or removed according to the application demands. Cloud elasticity refers to the effective adjustments in the volume of infrastructure depending on the changes in workloads. As Tricension experts point out, businesses gain the most out of cloud data analysis when they recognize the importance of cloud optimization. 

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About the Author 

Agnieszka Podemska is an SEO specialist and content strategist at MiroMind SEO & Digital Agency and SEOWar SEO agency. Avid blog-reader and IT enthusiast, she likes to share her  insights with others.