What is Big data?

Big data” is the term used to describe the large volume of structured and unstructured data
that a business collects every day. By analyzing big data, businesses can gain insights that
lead to better business decisions, beat competitors, learn about their customers in-depth, and
grow strategically.
According to experts at The Economist, the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil –
it’s data. “Smartphones and the internet have made data abundant, ubiquitous and far more
valuable. Whether you are going for a run, watching TV or even just sitting in traffic,
virtually every activity creates a digital trace—more raw material for the data distilleries,”
says one report.
The concept of big data goes deeper than simply a large amount of information. Industry
analysts use “the Three V’s” to define big data more specifically. They are volume, velocity,
and variety. Volume refers to the sheer magnitude of volume that is being collected – an
estimated 180 zettabytes in the digital universe by 2025. Velocity covers the pace at which
this data is being collected, which increases day by day. Each minute, it’s estimated that
email users send 156 million messages. Processing this amount of incoming data is a massive
challenge for data scientists and companies alike.
Lastly, variety is a factor which covers the form in which data is collected. There are two
forms of data collection: structured and unstructured. Structured data can be organized easily
in a database and is relatively easy to analyze and store. Unstructured data, however, is
difficult to sort and includes emails, social media posts, audio and video files, web pages, and
more.
There are other dimensions to big data that data scientists use in their analysis. But, you don’t
need to be a data scientist to take advantage of the world’s most valuable resource. All you
need are the right data tools in place to help your hotel collect and surface actionable
insights. 
ccording to Gartner, “Big Data are high volume, high velocity, and/or high-variety
information assets that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced decision making,
insight discovery, and process optimization.”
In essence, Big Data refers to datasets that are too large or complex for traditional data
processing applications (for instance, ETL systems). It is characterized by three core features
– high volume, high velocity, and high variety. Rapid development and adoption of disruptive
technologies (AI, ML, IoT), rapidly-growing mobile data traffic, cloud computing traffic, and
high penetration of smartphones, all contribute to creating an ever-increasing volume and
complexity of large datasets.
Since the advantages of Big Data are numerous, companies are readily adopting Big Data
technologies to reap the benefits of Big Data. Statista maintains that the global big
data market will grow to $103 billion by 2027, with the software industry leading the Big
Data market with a 45% share. While the global Big Data and Business Analytics market was
valued at $169 billion in 2018, it is estimated to rise to $274 billion by 2022. In 2018, nearly
45% of professionals in the market research industry used big data analytics as a research
method.
The benefits of Big Data are-

 Cost optimization
One of the most significant benefits of Big Data tools like Hadoop and Spark is that these
offer cost advantages to businesses when it comes to storing, processing, and analyzing large
amounts of data. Not just that, Big Data tools can also identify efficient and cost-savvy ways
of doing business.
 The logistics industry presents an excellent example to highlight the cost-reduction benefit of
Big Data. Usually, the cost of product returns is 1.5 times greater that of actual
shipping costs. Big Data Analytics allows companies to minimize product return costs by
predicting the likelihood of product returns. They can estimate which products are most likely
to be returned, thereby allowing companies to take suitable measures to reduce losses on
returns. 

 Improve efficiency

 Big Data tools can improve operational efficiency by leaps and bounds. By interacting with
customers/clients and gaining their valuable feedback, Big Data tools can amass large
amounts of useful customer data. This data can then be analyzed and interpreted to extract
meaningful patterns hidden within (customer taste and preferences, pain points, buying
behavior, etc.), which allows companies to create personalized products/services. 
 Big Data Analytics can identify and analyze the latest market trends, allowing you to keep
pace with your competitors in the market. Another benefit of Big Data tools is that they can
automate routine processes and tasks. This frees up the valuable time of human employees,
which they can devote to tasks that require cognitive skills.  

 Foster competitive pricing

 Big Data Analytics facilitates real-time monitoring of the market and your competitors. You
can not only keep track of the past actions of your competitors but also see what strategies
they are adopting now. Big Data Analytics offers real-time insights that allow you to – 
 Calculate and measure the impact of price changes.
 Implement competitive positioning for maximizing company profits. 
 Evaluate finances to get a clearer idea of the financial position of your business.
 Implement pricing strategies based on local customer demands, customer purchasing
behavior, and competitive market patterns.
 Automate the pricing process of your business to maintain price consistency and
eliminate manual errors. 
  Boost sales and retain customer loyalty

 Big Data aims to gather and analyze vast volumes of customer data. The digital footprints
that customers leave behind reveal a great deal about their preferences, needs, buying
behavior, and much more. This customer data offers the scope to design tailor-made products
and services to cater to the specific needs of individual customer segments. The higher the
personalization quotient of a business, the more it will attract customers. Naturally, this will
boost sales considerably. 
 Personalization and the quality of product/service also have a positive impact on customer
loyalty. If you offer quality products at competitive prices along with personalized
features/discounts, customers will keep coming back to you time and again. 

 Innovate 

 Big Data Analytics and tools can dig into vast datasets to extract valuable insights, which
can be transformed into actionable business strategies and decisions. These insights are the
key to innovation. 
The insights you gain can be used to tweak business strategies, develop new
products/services (that can address specific problems of customers), improve marketing
techniques, optimize customer service, improve employee productivity, and find radical ways
to expand brand outreach. 

Approaches of Big Data- to Hospitalty

 L everaging Big Data for Forecasting and personalised

offers
 
Big Data insights can multiply profits of Hotels and hospitality organisation.

This can be used for forecasting analytics, better expense management and
greater customer satisfaction.

According to reports, Big Data insights can improve the profits of an

organisation by 200% if it is used for yield management, sending out
personalised offers to customers, managing Omni channels for booking
effectively and improving forecasting.

Big Data made simple explain this properly on how hotels can use Big data
analytics to maximise revenue.
Check out these details in the image below on Big Data layers.

This can help integrate various channels and open up new avenues for revenue
creation for the hotel industry.

 Artificial intelligence and data analytics- Rise of

Robots in the Hospitality Industry
 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already used in various pilot projects across the
travel and hospitality industry.

Artificial intelligence in the hospitality industry is already a game-

changer. Data analytics in the hospitality industry is going to be another game-
changer for growth strategy.

Machine learning, natural language processing etc. is revolutionising how the

data was used to be interpreted earlier.

Customer service both online and offline can get an immense boost to offer
personalised and unique service to every customer using the available data.

Unique customer service and better forecasting will make features like virtual
butler a commodity in the hotel industry in future.

 Customised product recommendation in real-time

 

According to the article by McKinsey and Company, data analytics can help
hospitality organisations upsell conveniently.

Linking predictive analytics with geolocation data can do wonders for selling
recommended products in real-time on-property.

This is much more than coupons and promotion.

This is about knowing what’s in the mind of the customers and then offering
just that.

How cool, isn’t it?

Article by McKinsey & Company , the famous consulting firm, explains how
data analytics can help the hospitality and travel industry immensely. For keen
readers of the subject, there’s a lot of resources are included for further
reading.
 

 Chatbots to use data analytics for driving constant

growth and revenue
 

Data can be used in a magical way to predict and then offer service in a most
personalised manner and how the Hotel is converting to a Botel in the 21st
century.

With Siri and Alexa already at our service in various hotels, chatbots are going
to venture in voice-activated services and digital assistance for better user
experience.

Robots in the Hospitality industry are going to be more common than we can
think of.

A lot of hotels have already started using them as pilot projects and have
achieved good success and rave reviews from customers so far.