
What I am getting at is that the use of data-intensive technologies is kind of a big deal. There are 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide and close to 2 billion people accessing the Internet, and annual Internet traffic is predicted to reach 667 exabytes this year. That’s a heckuva lot of data, and it has the potential to alter the course of history, so everyone wants to find the best ways to display and monitor and make sense of it all.
Basically, Big Data refers to really big, super complex data sets. Advancements in Big Data analysis are providing businesses with cost-effective opportunities to create more value and impact by enabling better-informed decision-making and critical development to take place in real-time. Understanding how immensely important it is to break down organizational silos with business intelligence programs and solutions that deliver useful, consumable real-time analytics to all parties involved, many enterprise organizations are adapting not only their infrastructures, but also their office layouts to accommodate physical workspaces and experiential data immersion suites dedicated to the acquisition, specialized monitoring, analysis and management of Big Data.
Social Media Command Centers
The world’s most successful brands are implementing social media command centers to track real-time data from conversations (pertaining to their brand, their customers, their prospects, their competitors, etcetera, etcetera) across the web and internalize the feedback as actionable insights that guide current and future business decisions. Typically resembling some hybrid version of a Radio/Television/Film production suite and a mini NASA mission control, these command centers are swimming in banks of screens, monitors and data dashboards – all displaying multiple different channels. These kinds of multi-screen-multi-channel setups empower brands to create fully immersive experiences by enabling simultaneously engagement in active social listening as well as sophisticated data dissemination.
Specialized monitoring practices can generate invaluable social insights that, when utilized correctly, can educate employees on company best practices, help measure sales and marketing initiatives, and reinforce positive brand reputation by guiding targeted, relevant and engaging brand communications, quality customer support and timely crisis control.
The Future Workplace
Key decision makers seeking to propel their organizations into the future are embracing Big Data, as they very well should be. In addition to all of the benefits listed above, Big Data alpresents incredible opportunities to dive even deeper into new and emerging types of data and content – to make businesses more nimble and to answer questions that, in the past, were beyond reach.
As more brands endeavor to become agile custom content producers who create and dissiminate the right content in the right context to the right people at the right time, the adoption of Big Data technologies will only continue to escalate.
Most SMBs will probably be able to get by with some combination of a few computers, tablets and TV monitors for their data analysis and measurement – as long as they make use of appropriate software, systems and applications.
The office environments of enterprise organizations, on the other hand, will likely continue evolving to keep pace with the demands of a digital workplace. IT innovations, new ways of working (ehemm, mobility) and greater demand for unique brand experiences. Conceivably, this will include planning and utilization of physical office space as well as specialized workforces and workflows, but those are different articles in and of themselves.
In conclusion, it may be a stretch to expect more and more of our workplaces to start looking a lot more like those featured in the futuristic utopia of The Jetsons – you know, the animated sitcom set in a Space Age, wherein holograms, extraterrestrials, elaborate contraptions and whimsical inventions are all totally normal. But just to be clear, the age in which the Jetsons were projected to live just so happens to be less than 50 years from today (2062)! I know, I know, it's only television. But what can I say? I have a vivid imagination and a love for technology... And I can't lie, I rather enjoy entertaining the thought that one day I might have a robot-pal that will bring me coffee and assist with marketing campaigns!
What about you?
Will your workplace be ready for the future, whatever form it takes? How is your organization capturing, curating, storing, searching for, sharing, transfering, analyzing and visualizing data? I'd love to hear more examples. If you have insight to share, please gimme some in the comments below!