Big data is transforming the way that businesses operate. It’s allowing them to track more information than ever before and make decisions based on those data. The technology has the potentially to be truly transformative. Many big businesses have already taken the plunge and started using the technology. It’s only a matter of time before whole industries follow suit. Here’s what big data has made possible.

Banking And Securities

Right now, the Securities and Exchange Commission is using big data to monitor financial markets. The idea here is to use network analytics and natural language processing to catch cyber criminals. Whether it’s fraud or illicit trading, these new algorithms should be able to stop the criminals in their tracks.

Big data are also being used to transform customer data and analytics. Companies can track in more detail how customers behave, what they spend money on and their regular behaviour. This automates fraud detection and helps banks keep customer accounts safe.

Healthcare Providers

Recently Google partnered with the University of Florida to create a health information database. The idea was to use geographic and medical records to allow for faster tracking of infectious diseases. The timing has been particularly good, especially in the wake of the rapid spread of the Zika virus. And now Florida has one of the most advanced systems in the world for dealing with outbreaks.

But that isn’t the only way big data is being used in the field. Healthcare data solutions will also allow providers to reduce their costs. For instance, patients who do not benefit from certain drugs will no longer have to have them prescribed. Medical data will be used to determine the effectiveness of medicines on a patient-by-patient basis.

Education

The University of Tasmania introduced its new Learning and Management System in 2014. The system logs all sort of information on how it is used, including how long students spend studying a particular page. The idea is to use data analytics to find out where students are getting stuck. This will then allow the University to devise better learning interventions.

Government

Every year in the US, about 50,000 people die from food poisoning. It’s a huge number that beats out the number of people killed in car accidents. As a result, the Food and Drugs Administration is looking for better ways to track food-poisoning outbreaks. By combining map data with hospital admissions and supplier details, it hopes to contain outbreaks more quickly.

Transport

One of the most prominent uses of big data has always been in the field of transportation. Transport is by its very nature a data-generating sector. And all those data can be put to good use if only somebody could make sense of it all. Right now the government is doing its best to do just that. Location data from cars and smartphones can now be harvested and processed by traffic controllers. That information can then be used to help traffic flow more freely. It can also be used by satellite navigation to help individuals find the fastest routes to their destinations.

The logistics sector is also exploring the use of big data. The idea here is to consolidate shipments and optimise freight time to reduce transportation costs.