Oracle BI and JD Edwards: The Power of Big Data Unlocked

Oracle BI – Thoughts (10) –

Cadran is publishing a series of blogs and articles on Oracle Business Intelligence in combination with JD Edwards ERP. In these articles, we discuss ideas and insights that assist in making the right choices for using and implementing both systems. This article focuses on Big Data.

What is Big Data?

Recently, I watched a TED talk on big data. In 15 minutes, the speaker discussed both its benefits and risks and shared his vision of the future. A remarkable example from his talk is the development of the chess computer: as the program “learned” by playing thousands of games, it became increasingly stronger—eventually reaching a point where the programmer could no longer beat it. With a growing database of played games, Big Data was, in essence, born.

Big Data is all about the power of vast amounts of information: the larger and more detailed the dataset, the more reliable the conclusions. Intelligent algorithms reveal connections, and technology is advancing rapidly, with endless possibilities on the horizon.

Big Data follows the law of large numbers. The broader and deeper the dataset, the more reliable the conclusions drawn from it. Intelligence, in the form of algorithms that reveal these conclusions and reasoning connections between data, has improved rapidly in recent years, with no end to these developments in sight.

Unstructured Data

Big Data often starts with unstructured data—think of emails or documents without labels or structure. When a customer emails a complaint about a product, that information lacks a defined structure. Only by reading the data and assigning characteristics such as product or complaint type does a clear organization emerge. With Big Data, large amounts of unstructured data can yield valuable insights. Smart algorithms generate metadata, such as time or location, and as more data is added, patterns become increasingly reliable.

Technology

Traditional databases often cannot handle massive amounts of unstructured data. Technologies like NoSQL and Hadoop offer solutions for processing this data. Such databases are ideal for uncovering broader insights, like detecting trends in a geographic area. They may not provide exact revenue figures, but they can offer an overview, such as popular restaurant locations within a 10-kilometer radius.

Data Discover

Big Data is only valuable when it is analyzed. Technology helps identify connections, but final conclusions are still drawn by analysts. This process, known as Data Discovery, combines human expertise with the power of technology, with the software becoming increasingly adept at structuring future data.

From Big Data to Small Data

Ultimately, it often comes down to big-picture insights or exceptions. If, for example, we gather all temperature measurements worldwide, we create a massive dataset. This volume of information enables us to draw important conclusions, such as the expected temperature increase over the next 50 years.

From Unstructured Data to Structured Data

Big Data can help transform unstructured data (such as customer complaint emails) into structured data. Technology can automatically recognize and record characteristics like product, complaint type, and date. This ultimately helps shape this information into well-organized, easily analyzable data within a database.

Practical applications

One example: a passenger at Schiphol Airport complains on Twitter about a long wait for his luggage. Shortly after, an employee delivers his luggage and apologizes. The passenger posts a positive message, and the experience shifts from negative to positive.

A digital weather station manufacturer also makes good use of Big Data. These weather stations collect information on temperature, humidity, and air pressure and send it to the supplier’s servers. This vast amount of data provides a reliable picture of the weather in different areas and even enables accurate weather predictions.

Big Data provides the right information at the right time and can support organizations in making better decisions. With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), the number of connected devices is only increasing. Big Data is growing exponentially in size and speed. The possibilities are there; it is now up to us to extract value from the data.

In a future article, we will discuss how Oracle Business Intelligence can function as Artificial Intelligence for automated decision-making.