Remember when everyone started talking about big data? Businesses were excited about all those valuable insights and their potential to transform organizations. However, once the hype calmed down businesses realized that between the sophisticated software required, the operational costs and the advanced skill sets involved, creating a big data infrastructure was out of their reach. Big data solutions made big promises, but the sales teams that needed to harness its  power to compete often found that they just couldn’t afford to.

How Big Data has Changed

So, here’s some good news: that’s all changed. Thanks to recent technological developments, organizations (regardless of size) can enjoy the benefits of data-driven decision making without a colossal investment in time and resources.

Think back to an earlier time as an enterprise leader looking to capitalize on the big data revolution. You probably turned to your analysts, who turned to IT and asked them to create an effective data warehouse. It was no easy task; between provisioning hardware, integrating tools, and adapting the infrastructure, it took a lot of time . Once the build was complete  you needed a team of data scientists to squeeze any actionable insights out of the data you harvested – even for basic queries. Not forgetting the fact that legacy analytic tools were just difficult to use and often dependent on on-premise tools.

The processes were inefficient and inconvenient and having to rely on the IT department  just didn’t work in the busy sales world. You and your team needed those tools at your fingertips and while, visiting a customer  out in the field. In the end, you spent considerable money and time to get results that only a data scientist could understand.

In a world of lightning-fast deals, that kind of laborious process just doesn’t work. Thankfully we now have technology and tools that are reducing costs while dissolving barriers and IT silos. In short, enterprise data has finally been democratized, with repercussions that are nothing short of transformative for sales teams.

Why the change?

Gone are the days of months-long implementation cycles. Today’s tools remove that delay and get teams up to speed fast. Although, the biggest reason is that data analytics tools are finally designed for the cloud. They’re agile, mobile, and they’re built to be used by anyone, anywhere. As a result,  billions of rows of data can now be digested in real-time and turned into clear and actionable information delivered to tablets, laptops and smartphones.

This is real information funneled through a delivery model engineered for the needs of real workers. This is the age of mobile, , where we work from homes, offices, airport gates, coffee shops and anywhere else we find ourselves. .

Another reason for the change  is that the data is now comprehensive enough to be accessed and understood by almost anyone, rather than framed in a way only data specialists can understand.. Now organizations can read data like they’re reading a map, without any kind of expert background.

How Big Data is Transforming Business

Ultimately, we’re entering a new era of data, one that is transforming businesses. Elevated business intelligence is no longer a lofty height reserved for the Fortune 500  or sophisticated scientists. Instead, workers and professionals of a variety of backgrounds can access analytics whenever they need to and use them to shape new strategies, course-correct mistakes, and drive revenue – no middleman required. The entire point of big data has always been to give organizations a competitive edge; and with the speed and convenient access of our new tools, that competitive edge is now attainable.

At ApostleTech we’re just as excited about big data as you. The possibilities are endless and with the right partner the sky’s the limit! If you’re in the process of looking to migrate data, implement a new CRM software for your business or increase sales, then get in touch. We look forward to working with you and evolving your business through the use of big data.