Our run down of data-driven technologies and how they’re spreading to the masses.

Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics, and the Internet of Things. Simply buzzwords in corporate meeting rooms a few years back; these technologies are now shaking our world and transforming the way we do business. As a company that helps businesses with their data every day, we see these technologies revolutionising the way companies make and save money. Whether that’s helping you get closer to your customers, predicting future challenges in your workforce, or modelling different scenarios to improve your business performance, data will have an increasingly large part to play in our business decisions.

We’ve outlined three technologies here, showing how and why they’re increasing in popularity.

Rise of the machines: machine learning takes over

In the past, we solved mostbusiness problems by processing data with logic, not learning from the data itself via algorithms. But machine learning is changing all that — significantly speeding up the time it takes to analyse huge sets of data and generate granular, accurate insight.

At its most basic — machine learning is the job of making assumptions, testing those assumptions and learning as you go — given to a computer. It means data is able to be tested and retested at speeds and capabilities no human can. It means trends can be analysed and predictions forecasted at scales we’ve never seen before.

In the past, this technology was reserved for the big corporates, the fat cats who could buy and process huge datasets. The ones that could absorb the high costs associated with machine learning software, and hire the experienced scientists able to use it. Today — things are different. Machine learning is becoming mainstream and accessible even to startups. This is down to the rapid expansion of data sources available to us, significantly improved algorithms that study the data, and substantially more-powerful computing power.

As time goes on, businesses will increasingly incorporate machine learning into their data analytics capabilities. With the rise of self-serve platforms like Tableau and Power BI, this adoption is extending to those without the expertise and budgets needed in the past.

The data crystal ball: predictive models are in high demand

In a similar vein to the adoption of machine learning, predictive analytics is moving from the bench to the forefront of companies’ business strategies. Simply put; predictive analytics is the process of identifying patterns in past data and using it to estimate the values for data that you do not have. With the rise of increasingly sophisticated modelling software — businesses with relatively low budgets and experience can create accurate, insightful predictions about their future. Whether that’s future customer purchasing behaviour, marketing and sales costs or campaign success — businesses are using prediction models to inform their strategies. This marks a general trend to become insight-driven, over the traditional gut-driven approach that is fast dying out.

A more connected world: IoT is inevitable.

International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that our daily interactions with digital devices will grow 20-fold over the next 10 years. And it’s not hard to see why. Every day our exposure to digital homes, appliances, vehicles and wearable and implantable devices is growing. What is exciting (and a little scary) is that the data from these devices are aggregated and stored online, as more and more devices are connected to the internet. This Internet of Things (IoT) means our lives are becoming increasingly influenced and dependent on data. In fact, IDC reports that by 2025, 25% of data will be real-time. And of this data, 95% of it will be driven by IoT.

For businesses, this spells big bucks. According to Vodafone’s annual IoT report, organisations that adopt IoT report an average increase in revenue of 19%. And where they reported a reduction in costs, the average was 16%.

For businesses everywhere, large and small, the adoption of smart data-driven technologies is becoming increasingly necessary. Those that fail to exploit the resources available to them in our increasingly digital world see themselves fall against their competitors and lose face with their customers. At Data³ we make it easy for our clients to get ahead of the curve. As well as building data tools from scratch, we work on clients’ existing data projects and also upskill data teams so they can run sophisticated reporting with ease. To find out more of what we do, visit our site at www.data-cubed.co.uk.