It’s no surprise that big data is on the rise in businesses around the world. Companies routinely use big data to analyze common trends in their practice; enabling them to make sophisticated decisions to ensure their businesses prosper. According to Statista, an online statistics, market research and business intelligence portal; companies routinely use data to drive process and cost efficiency; drive strategy; and to monitor and improve financial performance. When used in these ways, data has the ability to save the company a significant amount of money because they are able to spend their money efficiently.

Colleagues think of data analysis much in the same way they think about marketing. Which is everyone thinks they are data analysts. With little to no practice they can put together graphs and visualize data at the drop of a hat. When interviewing Dave from accounting he made sure you knew that he has Tableau reader on his desktop which totally means he’s one step away from Tableau certification. Karen from Sales also discussed her extensive knowledge when it came to Excel. Yes, that same Karen who emailed you a month ago and asked how a pivot table worked.

The fourth industrial revolution is on the rise. This time, instead of replacing human hands with machinery, companies are replacing scheduled surveys with timely repairs. Industry 4.0 includes machine learning on a variety of levels, but one of the most intriguing (and financially applicable) is predictive maintenance; the practice of predicting machine failure before it happens. Face detection, talking refrigerators, and mood-setting light bulbs are fun, but when big money talks, everybody listens.