Big data in Australia: the ABCs of data science

From the outside, Australia can seem like a bit of an anomaly. Featuring a landmass not far off the size of the continental United State and a population that fits neatly into Texas, Australia isn’t your typical country. However, it has produced some of the world’s greatest minds and is responsible for the inventions like the WiFi standard we all rely on today, and it’s beginning to make waves in another area that, like WiFi, has the potential to be a big deal for the world: big data.

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Analytics explained

Like most of the world, businesses in our neck of the woods are producing and stockpiling a staggering amount of data on customers and transactions. These data sets commonly known as “big data” house a wealth of information that when mined properly can be used to chart, graph, and discover insights into company actions. Any business that has embraced technology will have access to this data, and when left in the hands of a data scientist, can discover the patterns, trends, and secrets that big data reveals. Big data in Australia may not be solely on Australians as a people, but rather anything that touches the businesses working inside the country. People, products, cars, traffic, entertainment, shipping containers, and more. Anything that logs information can be processed and information gleaned.

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Big potential

Understandably, there’s big potential for Australian analytics and data scientists, and while this list is by no means exhaustive, it runs the gamut of activities, from the financial services industry looking into cost-cutting measures and strategy development to shopfronts and the retail sector. In fact, the latter of these has already proven itself to be quite fruitful, with supermarket data able to develop models to uncover consumer demand against retailer and supplier models. Sources of Australian analytics may not be specifically local to our market, but they will help local businesses detail what is best for their immediate customers. Managing consumer goods is just one more area where big data in Australia can make a dent, because data is everywhere. Data is in the roads management, in the lights, in the electricity and petrol and other fuel usage around the world. The data science behind everything can be applied to government at the various levels and to manufacturing, to education, and to nearly every industry you can put your finger on. There is no doubt a big potential for big data in Australia. The key is working out when you want to start taking advantage. When is right to corner big data for your organisation?

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Cornering the market

Businesses eager to dominate against competitors are advised to invest in data science early, taking advantage of big data in Australia before others join the data bandwagon. As more companies embrace digital transformation and take the jump to the cloud, they become more exposed to all the benefits a tech savvy world can provide, including the wonders of data science and big data in Australia. Big data's big potential has not gone unnoticed in government, where real-time tracking of public transport is already used by individuals in the network, and can later be used for improving customer experience through deep analysis of the transportation network. What else will Government be able to make use of the information being captured about our activities? Organisations with a wealth of data would do well to hire data scientists as consultants, to begin with, opening the gates of information to contract and freelance professionals able to uncover the secrets that lie within. Only when big data is uncovered can the information start to become useful.