Database Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Applying Big Data to
Business Problems: A
Sampling of Use Cases
This chapter's
title describes exactly what we're going to cover: how Big
Data can be applied to help solve business problems. We'll illustrate Big Data's
ability to enhance the business and solve previously insurmountable (or greatly
simplify difficult) problems using selected use cases and some commentary on
the mechanics of getting going with Big Data. We'll touch on how we helped
clients develop new applications and what potential approaches you can use to
solve previously difficult challenges. We'll also talk about how new ways of
doing things can fundamentally change your approach to problem solving.
When to Consider a Big Data Solution
Are you limited by your current platform or environment because you can't
process the amount of data that you want to process? Do you want to involve
new sources of data in the analytics paradigm, but you can't, because it
doesn't fit into schema-defined rows and columns without sacrificing fidelity
or the richness of the data? Do you need to ingest data as quickly as possible
and need to work with a schema-on-demand paradigm? Are you being forced
into a schema-on-write approach (the schema must be created before data is
loaded), but you need to ingest data quickly, or perhaps in a discovery process,
and want the cost benefits of a schema-on-read approach (data is simply
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