Presently home-based businesses are growing by leaps and bounds. More people than ever want to work at home at home-based business. There are many reasons for this turn from the traditional 9-to-5 work at a company to a work at any home-based business. Rising gas costs are probably the number one reason people would like to work at home. Not having to deal with the office politics and the supervisor or boss is probably the second reason people want to work at home and probably the third reason is people are losing their jobs and an alarming rate and therefore forced to find something else and why not work at a home-based business where you can make money, save gas, and spend more time with your family.

Home-based business can be a number of things it doesn’t always mean to sell something, however, selling something is usually where people began their home-based business careers. From selling makeup, to the very popular “green products” which help to clean your home and are good for the environment to selling software that can help you boost your new home-based business all of these things are good places to begin and will make you money in your new home-based business.

There are also home-based businesses that help people, they help people begin in the home-based business world. These home-based businesses help people start their own home-based business by showing them what they should do, how they should do it and what not to do. Most of the home-based businesses that help people, but are selling a service, have already been through all the ups and downs of owning a home-based business and will show the new people what to beware of them starting their own home-based business.

In the beginning, working at a home-based business can be tough, especially if you don’t know anyone to sell your items to and that is where networking comes in. Networking with other home-based business workers is a great opportunity to form friendships, get help with information you need and form alliances in which you might be able to trade websites which is called affiliate marketing so that you both can make a profit off of each other’s products or services. Having a mentor or coach is also a good idea when you first begin your home-based business and there are a lot of mentors or life coaches that are willing to help when you first start out. Because they have been there and know that it can be difficult when you’re starting out alone.

Just remember, if you pick a home-based business that you offer a product or service that people want you will do fine. Do a little research before beginning your home-based business, search the top selling items through a Google or Yahoo search and see what the top-selling items or services are at this time. Most of them have to do with weight loss or helping people make money through the sale of software that you can purchase the rights to and then sell on your own website.

Big data refers to huge volumes of structured and unstructured data; however, processing such massive volumes of data via traditional data management tools is inefficient and impossible. To understand big data you have to realize the devices that are collecting it today e.g. bar code scanners, mobile cameras, CCTV cameras, motion sensors, smoke alarms, web analytical tools, CRMs, etc. From the examples, you can see that these devices collect a vast array of data types hence the structured and unstructured part in the definition. The sheer velocity at which the data is being produced cannot be controlled and processed using traditional methods and tools.

However, the use of big data and incorporation of big data analytical technology gives businesses the competitive edge over their competitors.

Big Data and Small Businesses

It is only a thing of the past when terms like big data and business intelligence were associated with large enterprises only. Today, small businesses have to leverage the data they are collecting in order to remain a part of the competition. For years, cost has remained the main reason why small businesses did not adopt big data analytical technologies, but this has changed now. There are budget-friendly tools available for small businesses to take advantage of the data they are collecting today. According to some experts, small businesses can take better advantage of big data since they are able to make the necessary changes far more quickly than large enterprises i.e. real-time response to insights from available data.

According to an IDG study in 2016, 78% of the large enterprises agree that big data strategy has the power to change how businesses have always operated. This shows the acceptance of big data technology and strategies for large enterprises and strengthens the fact that small businesses could become irrelevant if they did not adopt the same strategies.

Benefits of Large Data Analytics

Large Data and Big Companies, a report by IIA Director of Research, Tom Davenport, reveals that businesses are benefitting greatly from big data analytics especially in improving their products, making business decisions faster and reducing costs. Here are some ways small businesses can benefit from big data.

• Cost Savings

The upfront cost of implementing large data tools and strategies is high undoubtedly, but the long term benefits of doing so are matchless. The healthcare industry is a great example of how the use of large data can help businesses reduce their costs regardless of their size. Using predictive analytics, Medicare and Medicaid Services forestalled more than $210 million fraud in healthcare with just 2 years of utilizing the aforementioned technology.

In addition to preventing frauds, small businesses can also reduce their costs by steering clear of creating more inventory than needed, including better partners in the supply chain, etc.

• Improved Decision Making

This is the biggest benefit of large data. It allows businesses to expedite decision making by processing the data fast and giving insights in timely manner. In the past, business decisions were reserved for future strategies in the light of available data and the trends that were observed in it. The amount of data that businesses are sitting on today is huge and thus more powerful insights are to be gained from it.

This vast amount of data requires the use of modern big data hardware technologies. Once both the things are in place for a business, they can understand customers better, create products that are a closer reflection of what customers want and develop a brand based on most reverenced values.

• Impenetrable Security

Businesses are more focused today on using large data to improve their core capabilities, but less attended to a more serious concerns i.e. cyber threats and security breaches. Almost every small, medium and large business is connected to the internet today. Moreover, the Internet of Things has broadened the attackable security surface for businesses making it easier for cyber criminals to attack networks and penetrate company databases.

The biggest concern for modern businesses is that they have to “respond” to cyber attacks that have already occurred rather than being able to prevent them from occurring. The use of big data and big data analytical tools can be a game changer in this area allowing businesses to prevent any security attacks way before they are executed.

Key Technologies Helping Businesses Make the Best of Big Data

As a small business, you will have to familiarize with various technologies that help you store, analyze and take action on big data. Here are some important ones:

• Hadoop

It’s a framework supporting the storing of large amounts of data using an open-source approach. Once data is stored, Hadoop enables the use of a variety of applications using “clustered hardware” at its base. Due to the cluster of commodity hardware, it becomes possible and easy for businesses to process big data despite its increasing volume.

• Data Mining

This is the technology that enables business owners to capture insights, patterns and trends from big data that otherwise cannot be obtained with a traditional approach. Data mining is what allows you to jump in a large sea of structured and unstructured data, make sense of it all and produce analytical insights that help businesses with real-time and future decisions.

• Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics walk side by side with data mining. Artificial is at the heart of predictive analytics, enabling business owners to adjust their present strategies by giving predictions about what will transpire for the business based on existing data.

I have never worked in the CBD and I would never want to. I could not imagine anything more painful. There are just so many downsides to this- I cannot imagine why anyone does it. I run a home-based business and I cannot be happier.The purpose of this article is for me to share with you three reasons why I started my home-based business. If you are ready to escape the rat race- if you are ready to stop working for someone who is less intelligent than you- then the three reasons that I mention below may be enough of an push for you to take that leap and start your own home based business.Here is why I work from home:I didn’t want to waste my life in traffic- I couldn’t imagine anything more painful than being stuck in peak hour traffic everyday. An hour commute each way just to spend 8 hours in an office with no natural light is not something that appeals to me. I can roll out of bed, brew up a coffee and sit down at the computer without having to leave the house. Those extra couple of hours I get each day I can spend with my friends and family- also working on hobbies.My cats keep me grounded- Some of the things that best help me deal with stress are at home and sometimes you need to deal with stress quickly if you want to make the best business decisions. For me, this is my three cats. If I have a tough issue to deal with or I just want to take a couple of minutes off to think creatively about issues I will step away from the computer and play with my cats. Simple things make them so happy and they are just full of love.A home-based business leaves my money in my pocket- Another great benefit of my home-based business is that, with the lower overheads associated with working from home, I get to keep more money in my pocket each time I get paid by a customer. I don’t have to spend money on office rent as well as a second lot of utilities and insurance bills.I am so happy that I started my own home-based business. It is the best decision that I ever made. I don’t have to worry about peak hour traffic, I can earn more money and I can easily deal with stress. You should consider starting your own home-based business.