Understanding the Complexities of Big Data

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Big Data is a term used to describe the large volume of data whether structured or unstructured that inundates a given operation on a daily basis (http://www.SAS.com). Big Data consists of data sets that are so huge and complex that the customary data processing applications would not adequately handle them. Of late, the concept of Big Data has been used to describe the use of predictive analysis, user behaviour analytics and other complex data analytics techniques for the extraction value from data. The concept of Big Data can be understood through the description of the three V’s as advanced by Doug Laney, who is an industry analyst. First, Big Data can be understood in terms of Volume, whereby organizations collect large data from a variety …show more content…

However, Big Data cannot be used to generate new plans and predicting the future with certainty (Sagiroglu & Sinanc, 2013).

Types of Big Data used

The first type of Big Data used in military logistics is the structured data, which is data that has been stored in the databases in an orderly manner. In military logistics, the two sources of structured data are machines and humans. Examples include GPS data, usage statistics of vehicles, ships and aircrafts, and data from medical devices. The second type of structured data is unstructured data, which is data that resides in the traditional column databases and have no clear format in storage. Examples include the mobile data, and data from satellite images about certain terrains (Sagiroglu & Sinanc, 2013). …show more content…

Military logistics also involves the transport of military personnel, acquisition, operation and maintenance of the military facilities, and the medical health support (Davenport & Dyché, 2013). The use of Big Data thus presents a number of opportunities and benefits to the military logistics. First, the Big Data can be used to create a threat alarm system that would alert the military personnel of imminent threats such as terrorism and enemy attacks on warehouses and other storage facilities. Big Data can be used for social media monitoring to know a specific user group’s sentiments on a given policy enabling the military to take proactive actions. Thirdly, the use of Big Data presents an opportunity for information mining due to the use of emerging technologies such as cloud computing, management of real-time health usage and monitoring (HUMS) data for optimum vehicle availability and usage and lean supply chain management (Waller & Fawcett,

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