In the early weeks of coronavirus, all eyes
were on how
Switzerland’s authorities responded to Covid-19. Several months on and the
effects of the virus can now be identified, including how the outbreak has
impacted big data.
As the name suggests, big data refers to large
collections of information which grow exponentially and are therefore too
complex to be stored and processed by traditional software. The term combines both
structured – credit card numbers, product names and transaction information -
and unstructured data – email messages, video files and imagery – illustrating
exactly why big data just keeps getting bigger. Here’s how Covid-19 has boosted
the amount of information we generate and accelerated the adoption of big data.
Covid-19 has pushed digitisation in all
sectors
In 2018, the global big data market was valued
at $23.1 billion and it’s predicted to skyrocket up to $79.5 billion by
2024 – which is a CAGR of 25.4%. Covid-19 has amplified this growth by encouraging
innovation across the entire digital ecosystem, from big data and AI to cloud
computing and IoT. In retail, companies have embraced technology in order to
remain relevant and heard by consumers, while the traditional courts have felt
the pressure to adopt modern practices - storing evidence in the cloud - to
protect the justice system. Just as blockchain technology has enabled the digitisation
of the commodities market, big data has facilitated the digitisation of
various industries during Covid-19 and even supported growth for the ecommerce
market.
More data is being generated than ever before
Before the lockdown, when supermarkets,
hospitals and car garages were open, people could have as little interaction
with digital technologies as they liked. But when social distancing measures
were brought in many people were forced to rely on technology to get food to
their homes and interact with their doctors online. In every corner of the
globe, more people have become reliant on the internet for the most basic of
tasks and this has generated an exorbitant amount of data.
The spike in digital interactions is also a
result of the increased leisure time people now have. Experts predicted that by
2020 the amount of data generated each second would amount to 1.7MB
per person, meaning that each day it would hit a staggering 146,880MB. When
this prediction was made, there were 1.25 bitcoins
and 3,877,140 Google searches generated each minute, all of which contributed
to the growing stocks of big data. Now, with more people spending time online
and searching for ways
to remain productive in lockdown or information about coronavirus symptoms,
the data collections are burgeoning.
How big data will help in the fight against Covid-19
Since the beginning of the pandemic, big
data analytics have helped technology professionals provide the healthcare industry
and governments with insight into the virus and has enabled app developers to
create contact tracing technology that was essential to track the spread.
Switzerland was the first country to release a virus
tracking app and their swift response has been a large contributor to
keeping the infection rate low.
The potential of big data analytics goes
beyond tracking coronavirus. The past few months have demonstrated how the
sophisticated technology can prove useful right from the point of screening and
diagnosing the virus in the early stages, up until developing treatments.
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