Generic search on basis of trial and error methods has evolved into specific, intelligent domain-driven information discovery, which is now at the core of niche search activity. An array of knowledge-based, enterprise and generic consumer oriented data tools have arrived on the scene, keen to position themselves as valuable tools for computing, processing and analyzing dispersed sets of data at the blink of one’s eyelid.

Thanks to them, users can get updated, precise, and in-depth inputs on a wide array of topics arranged across verticals like Places, Finance, Restaurants, Entertainment, Music, Movies, Television, Education, Games, Websites, Language, Politics, Health, Sports, and so on. You ask for it, and you’ll get it thanks to these new specialized search facilities! Wolfram Alpha, a mathematician’s brainchild, incorporates both data sets and computations used by Apple’s Siri, among many others.

The fast-booming online realm of Big Data, wherein literally unquantifiable amount of information gets scoured and segregated for individual and corporate consumption – something once thought to be unimaginable – has now become a reality. As we’ve followed in a previous post, corporate houses now feel the need for advanced technologies to manage online data conundrum – almost 2.7 zettabytes of it by the 2012 end, equating almost 700 billion DVDs. There is a definite demand for the vast databases to co-relate and interact.

Making data faster and simpler to follow

And this is where lies a great opportunity for data management and analysis resources to cash on. Their statisticians and researchers are incessantly collating, cleaning, and correcting every minor and major bit of data relevant to laypeople and specialists. No surprise, many experienced data specialists, especially those from search engine giant Google have given up their lucrative job postings to wrangle user-friendly information in newer, simpler ways.

A case in point is a former product manager at the company, David Friedberg, who has launched the Climate Corporation. The venture makes use of latest government data on soil porosity, weather, root structures of soybeans, wheat and other farm produce, to write crop insurance. Another start-up called ClearStory looks to bring big data technology is looking to tie together all these entities, often termed data marts, in a way laypeople can use.

Tapping consumer minds for business opportunities

The young company gathers and explores diverse, dispersed data sets from corporate data sources, Hadoop and the Web to help business users to gain insights and discover new business opportunities. There are also several open-source data repositories, with public and private information that developers plug into their algorithms. The company analyzes this vast amount of data, to uncover new trends and patterns. This can unearth exciting, new business opportunities and result in enhanced consumer intelligence.

Several niche players are exploring the arena of ‘self-driven big data exploration’ for data scientists, statisticians and masses in order to draw intuitive insights from sets of data gathered from multiple sources. There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that big data is now a major draw for investors and the enterprise alike.