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Big data is one of those IT terms you often hear bandied around the place. In a nutshell, big data refers to vast quantities of information held by companies. Those firms “mine” that data for useful details to help them be more efficient. For example, they could mine big data to discover trends about the products they sell.
Some businesses don’t collect a lot of information about their customers. But, because they have a lot of customers, they usually end up with big data. As a company owner, you may be wondering how to store such enormous quantities of data. That little PC sitting in the corner you call a server just isn’t good enough!
By now, you might be thinking that you’ll have to spend an absolute fortune on the right hardware for the job. But, big data doesn’t have to mean big expenses. Do you have a need to store vast quantities of data? If so, let me share with you some techniques to achieve that goal without going broke.
Don’t store anything other than useful data
Some companies have a tendency to store all kinds of weird and wonderful information. The trouble with that approach is that it will soon eat up lots of disk space. The solution, of course, is only to store the data you need!
Information about the products people buy and when they bought them is useful. The number of pets they own is not useful, especially if your firm doesn’t sell anything to do with animals!
Keep it accessible
Some of you reading today’s blog post might assume you need a large room that you fill up with lots of data servers. But, did you know that you could store your big data in “the cloud”? Vault Networks and providers like them can offer you terabytes of storage space for your data.
And, because your data gets stored off-site, that means you can access it from anywhere in the world. The trouble with using an office-based server is access can sometimes get limited. Cloud storage is versatile, flexible and affordable in comparison to office servers.
Plan for the future
It’s likely that your data will grow. That’s why it is crucial you plan your big data storage with future expansion in mind! Sure, you could just buy some more hard drives if you store your data in-house.
But, when you use a cloud storage provider, the costs to upgrade are cheaper. The aim is to choose a solution that is scalable. The last thing you want is to end up with limited storage capacity.
Data cleansing
Part of your future-proofing strategy should involve data cleansing. But, what does that mean and how do you go about doing that? In layman’s terms, data cleansing refers to the art of dropping unwanted data.
Examples include duplicate and incomplete data records. A database is only ever as good as the data that gets stored in it!
I hope you’ve found today’s article useful. See you later!