Using big data has now become a necessity in various industries for them to keep innovating and cater to the needs of life in the future. Thus, the Big Data & Business Analytics Laboratory of SBM ITB regularly holds webinars and Data Talks that aim to build a mindset toward data, especially for business and management. On Thursday (23/6/2022), PT SOLUSI247’s Head of Corporate Presales & Digital Communication, Bagus Rully Muttaqien, was invited to talk about the utilization of big data for business.

According to Rully, big data does not come from technological developments but the more sophisticated digital movement. “The growth, or data explosion, is incredible. Nowadays, no matter what field, data is the one that holds its middle ground. Data will be the driver of their business,” said Rully.

Rully also added that being cost-efficient is one of the reasons why big data is widely used. Rully recounts a case in telecommunications companies as an example.

“In 2004, the telecommunications company was still using a data warehouse to process their data. The cost for the data warehouse reached Rp 6 billion. Meanwhile, when switching to big data implementation using commodity servers in 2009, the total cost for 44 servers was only Rp 4 billion. It is more cost-effective and can process the same records faster,” Rully explained.

The implementation of big data by telecommunication companies also creates new opportunities for their business. With big data, companies can explore customer data analytics further. One of them is customer profiling. With profiling, the company can find out the customer’s shopping habits so that the company can create a promotional strategy tailored to the customer’s personality.

In addition, as big data can process large amounts of data, companies can also process data that used to be discarded due to limitations. One of them is a dropped call or when the network connection suddenly disconnects. By collecting and analyzing data about the causes of dropped calls, companies can gain useful insights for their business. For example, for a dropped call caused by running out of credit, the company will send an automatic notification message accompanied by a promotion to encourage customers to buy. Or, if dropped calls occur massively in an area, the company can escalate to evaluate the network, so that product quality is maintained.

“With big data, people are becoming more creative. Data that was previously discarded can even pushes a business forward. We can do many things with big data,” said Rully.

Written by Student Reporter (Janitra Nuraryani, Management 2023)