Learning Big Data Analytics is a Smart Career Move

The amount of data that is being created and stored globally is almost inconceivable, and it is ever-growing doubling every two years. It is expected that by 2020, approximately 1.7 Mb of new information will be created per second for every human on the planet. The potential to gain relevant business insights from this huge amount of data is enormous.

Globally, the demand for data scientists is expected to exceed supply by more than 50 percent by 2018. If you have a head for numbers and deducing inferences, learning big analytics could be your ticket to a successful career.

What is Big Data Analytics?

Big data is a term used to describe the large volume of data – structured, semi-structured and unstructured – that inundates a business on a daily basis. However, it is not the amount of data, but what businesses do with this vast data that is important.

Big data analytics is changing the way we do business. It involves the analysis of large amounts of data to detect correlations, hidden patterns, and other insights. Thanks to modern technology, it is possible to analyse big data and get answers from it instantly, unlike traditional business intelligence solutions that are slower and less efficient.

Organisations may use big data analytics to achieve the following results –

• Determine the cause of defects, failures, and issues

• Calculate financial risks

• Detect fraudulent behaviour before it happens

• Identify ways of reducing business costs

• Assess customer needs and opportunities to create new products and services

• Improve decision-making

• Analyse customer behaviour to customise marketing communication

Governments can use this emerging science to identify and correlate economic and social trends. Given the immense potential of big data analytics for industry and society as a whole, some believe that the value of big data is comparable to gold and oil.

Big data analytics covers the following types of data analytics:

• Predictive Analytics – Predictive Analytics is a branch of data mining that predicts future trends and probabilities. It involves data collection, formulation of a statistical model, making predictions, and validation of the model.

• Descriptive Analytics – Descriptive Analytics is the first stage of data processing in which a summary of historical data is created, and data is prepared for further analysis.

• Prescriptive Analytics – Prescriptive Analytics aims to find the best course of action for a particular situation. It is related to both Predictive and Descriptive Analytics and suggests decision options to help take advantage of a future opportunity, and illustrate the possible outcome of each decision option.

• Diagnostic Analytics – Diagnostic analytics takes a deeper look at data in an attempt to understand the causes of behaviours and events.

Business Applications of Big Data Analytics

Big data analytics finds applications in various industry verticals including:

Banking and securities	This industry uses big data analytics to analyse customer data, enterprise credit risk reporting, card fraud detection, and securities analysis.
Communications and media	Collecting and utilising customer insights, leveraging social media content, and understanding patterns of media content usage.
Healthcare	Quick identification and efficient analysis of healthcare information. It is also used in tracking the spread of chronic illnesses.
Manufacturing	Utilisation of available data for energy efficiency, reliability, improved quality and better profit margins.
Insurance	To design pricing policies, personalised services, and targeted services to specific market segments.
Retail	Utilising data derived from Radio-frequency Identification (RFIDs), POS scanners, and customer loyalty cards. Timely analysis of inventory, optimised staffing using data from local events, shopping patterns, etc.

Big data analytics is also used in other industries such as transportation, energy, education, and many others. The breadth of industries that employ big data analytics goes to show the scope of job opportunities for trained professionals.

Learning Big Data Analytics

To learn Big Data analytics, you need to have a strong aptitude in mathematics. If you wish to work in Big Data analytics, a knowledge of SQL, Hadoop, Python, and other programming languages is desirable. Most Big Data analytics jobs require that you also have a knowledge of data mining methods, information warehousing, and data visualisation tools.

There are various free and paid online resources available for learning Big Data analytics. Some of the most popular online learning resources include:

• Udemy: Big data and Hadoop Essentials

• Udacity: Intro To Hadoop And MapReduce

• Harvard Extension: Massively Parallel Computing

• Coursera: Data Analysis & Statistical Inference

• Code school: Learn The R Programming Language

Institutions in UAE offering courses in Big Data analytics include:

• AMBEONE DMCC

• SP Jain Dubai Campus

• New Horizons

From a career point of view, there is a whole world of job opportunities available after learning Big Data analytics. Since data analytics is utilised in varied fields and industry verticals, there are numerous job titles that you can choose from, including

• Big Data Analytics Architect

• Big Data Analytics Business Consultant

• Data Integration Lead Architect

• Big Data Scientist

• Big Data Architect

• Big Data Engineer

• Big Data System Administrator

• Big Data Analyst

• Data Analytics Architect

• Solutions Architect

• Business Intelligence Architect

• Metrics and Analytics Specialist

• Business Intelligence and Analytics Consultant

• Analytics Associate

Big Data Landscape in the UAE

According to IDC, investment in business analytics in the Middle East is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate of more than 20 percent over the next few years. Research shows that 40 percent of the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in the Middle East are considering investment in big data and analytics technologies.

When it comes to big data analytics, the UAE is one of the fast growing countries in the region. The third Annual Smart Data Analytics Summit, held in May 2016 in Dubai, was attended by over 300 senior IT, Marketing, and Industry Specialists from across the globe.

Experts believe that we will quickly reach a point where the data sets will grow, but the skills to analyse it, would not keep pace, which means there is a great opportunity in the UAE for anyone who is thinking about learning big data analytics.

If big data analytics industry excites you, jump on the bandwagon and get ready for a rewarding career.