When we think of big data, it’s tempting to assume that it’s only the big brands and organizations with enough data and the technology to incorporate data into their business models. While some are more successful than others, smaller brands are also using the power of data analytics to grow their profits. LMK Group, a grocery/meal service company, has so successfully used advanced analytics through Microsoft Azure1 that the company has moved from being a start-up to its place now as a NASDAQ-listed company in little more than a decade.

Hidden within data are the insights needed to solve pressing problems. The cornerstone of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Safety Data Initiative (SDI)¹ is gathering and using traffic data to identify safety solutions to help reduce the tens of thousands of fatalities on U.S. roads each year. The program currently involves integrating existing data sources on traffic accidents and applying new data integration and analysis techniques.

The cloud gives financial institutions the capacity to respond to their customers and market conditions with more bandwidth and speed. The cloud also allows them to store data and apply analytics to get more value from this data. The result is better customer insights, improved efficiency, enhanced innovation, greater agility, and a reduced risk of security or business continuity breaches.

The cloud has the potential to reduce development time and costs because it gives medical researchers quick access to large volumes of health data, access to
sophisticated data processing tools. As an information sharing and analysis solution tool, the cloud allows researchers to collaborate globally, cutting significant time and costs from the drug development process.

Energy companies are discovering that real sustainability within the energy sector requires cloud solutions that allow them to move from fixed conventional generation to generation from renewable sources that fluctuate, such as wind and solar.