by The IT revolution has now given way to the age of information where everything is measured in the quantum of data generated and how one makes sense of it. Any company that fails to collect,collate and act on their data can lose out on a lot of a meaningful information which otherwise would have resulted in tremendous profits. A key factor in big data is that it has the potential to predict the next big trend.
A seismic shift in customer preferences , new trends and even unusual patterns can be unearthed if you analyze your own data. Bug Data may not directly tell you the product a customer wants or the exact set of services they may require . However what it tells you is the gap between the product/service and the expected/desired service. It points to you what is lacking in current scenario and what could actually delight and impact the people in a big way.
Two services stands testimony to that very fact : To invent something that a person always wanted but never really articulated the exact way he or she wanted it to be. It was none other than Uber and AirBnB. Everybody needed a cab at some point or another. Be it going to catch a flight or go to a wedding or even quickly get to work . It maybe because your car wasnt working or your driver took off for the day or you dont have a vehicle and always had to rely on a public transportation service like a Bus or train or sometimes an auto.
The concept of cabs was predominantly restricted to outstation travel or renting the car for an entire day or at least half day. Not many people apart from corporates had the need to rent a car for half or full day. They simply wanted to go from Destination A to Destination B and that was about it and hence made no sense renting expensive cabs for a longer duration of time
So if any of the cab company had investigated their data and understood what their customers actually wanted , an immediate cab service just to take them from point A to point B at a very nominal fare , they may have been super rich by now. But it took one guy to identify a concept called Taxi Aggregation which showed what taxis were nearby to a given location and also available to come pick you up and drop you wherever you wanted at a per km basis. Concept was simple, straightforward but to come up with an idea from examining the big data was revolutionary
AirBnB too solved the same thing by looking at big data. People were looking for homestay options in new countries and get new experiences. But the travel agents and touts stood in the way of this. AirBnB, by looking into the data and understanding what people wanted invented the AirBnB site for people to rent or let out homestays directly to interested people
Hopefully someday importance and the impact of big data comes into light in a much visible spectrum and more people adopt and invest in it
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
