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How Big Data and Data Privacy Fail

Privacy? What is data privacy? The reality is that companies have to address big data and data privacy as it has become a way of life for everyone that accesses the internet.

In the age of big data, privacy has become a serious issue for governments, corporations and individuals worldwide. IT professionals at Governments have the constant threat of a potential of leak of sensitive information or tech support services at corporations are worried about hacking and protecting their organization from corporate espionage. Smaller businesses have these concerns also but for a good reason. As most of them that believe in proactive IT management rely on a managed IT services provider to handle this security concern for them. Governments and companies usually hire IT consulting companies plus spend a lot of money and time to protect their data, security and business.

It is a simple rule, information is power and the more information that is out there, the higher the risks. Big data can be a very profitable business as some companies collect people’s personal information and then sell it to other organizations so they can use the data to directly market to individuals with targeted ads.

If you are looking to protect your business, it is a multilevel approach but the first step is to have an active firewall with a security suite including gateway anti-virus, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention and application intelligence and control service and finally content filtering service. Our network and security audits have shown that companies often spend too much time addressing potential vulnerabilities.

Here are some other steps to address big data and data privacy. You should always protect your network by using a VPN to reduce intrusions, installing antivirus and anti-spam software and ensuring your network is proactively managed including the latest updates. Companies should also invest into two step authentication. Finally, one last item comes down to employee education. Employees need to understand that they should not click on unknown links, popups or open emails that are sent from unknown individuals, companies or of course, have attachments.

How does your company IT security measure up when put to the test?

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Industry Insights IT Solutions Managed IT Services

What is Big Data Analytics?

Big data analytics is simple. It enables organizations to analyze a mix of data in search of valuable business information and insights to make them more competitive.

So you hear of big data analytics in the media however many do not know what it is exactly. Big data analytics is the process of examining large data sets containing a variety of data types to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, market trends, customer preferences and business information.

Why do companies use Big Data Analytics?

In order to be competitive, companies are using analytical findings to more effective in various avenues of their business including marketing, new revenue opportunities, better customer service, improved operational efficiency and the most important use, how to be more competitive s over rival organizations and other business benefits.

Big data analytics helps companies in many ways however the primary goal is to make better business decisions by enabling data analytics professionals to analyze large volumes of transaction data.  There are many forms of untapped data including Web server logs, internet clickstream data, social media content and social network activity reports, text from customer emails and survey responses, mobile-phone call detail records and machine data captured by sensors connected to the Internet of Things.

What are some examples of Big Data Analytics in business?

Walmart’s latest search engine for Walmart.com includes semantic data. They use a platform that was designed in-house and relies on text analysis, machine learning and even synonym mining to produce relevant search results. According to Walmart, semantic search has improved online shoppers completing a purchase by 10% to 15%.

American Express started looking for indicators that could predict loyalty and developed sophisticated predictive models to analyze historical transactions and 115 variables to forecast potential churn. American Express believes it can now identify 24% of Australian accounts that will close within the next four months.

What can small business use Data Analytics?

Small and midsize business (SMB) can use a wide variety of technologies that give them cost-effective data analytics. Google AdWords is one many businesses already use as it is a big data app that offers small and midsize business (SMB) market insight as well as improved decision-making ability resulting in better bottom-line results.

Small and midsize business (SMB) can also use data analytics intelligently to do better business that can improve pricing and just-in-time supply chains. Companies can find cheaper suppliers that are closer to their location and that offer more price transparency.

365 iT SOLUTIONS offers industry leading IT services including Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

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