As the holiday season approaches, retailers increasingly feel pressure from different quarters to deliver the best customer experience. Despite the disruption by the pandemic, reports indicate that online sales will grow significantly as the holiday season draws closer. However, the only question is, how ready are we? Have you taken advantage of technologies such as analytics to improve your business processes and seize opportunities presented by the pandemic? One of the things you can take advantage of going ahead is big data. Here are some ways that big data can help your holiday plans this year.

Ever since it became available in 2011 as an open-source program, Hadoop has made a significant impact in solving big data issues. It has also undergone significant transformations that have not only made it more robust but effective as well. Since it was founded, Hadoop has gone through major changes in versions that have made it stand tall in the big data arena. The good thing about Hadoop is that it has an active community that releases updates that keep the platform new. The latest update on Hadoop is Apache Hadoop 3.x rolled out in 2017. This new version comes with bug fixes, features, and enhancements over Hadoop 2.x. Here are some of the new features that will boost Hadoop in version 3.x that you need to know.

Big data continues to be a major talking point for many organizations. It is now a leading concept that continues to capture the imaginations of brand marketers and business executives looking to capitalize on it to change the landscape to their advantage. Indeed, the ability of a business to capture vast sets of data, collect vast data ranges in real-time, and process data into valuable insights can change the tide and make a business an absolute force. However, running big data is not only complicated but expensive as well.

Data has become one of the most crucial resources in organizations today. Unlike in the past, no business can succeed without data which is vital in decision-making. With massive amounts of data being generated every second from business transactions, customer interactions, and sales figures emanating from various sales platforms, data has become the fuel that drives businesses. All this data is referred to as big data. Data from multiple sources coming to an organization needs to be gathered and analyzed to enhance decision-making. However, this is easier said than done. There are various challenges to big data that are encountered during this process. Here are some of the issues that you should manage in your big data initiative.