Big data analytics is taking the business world by storm, adding a whole new level of business value. By analyzing the humongous amount of data that gets generated by applications every single day, big data analytics is helping businesses make data-driven decisions across verticals. Now imagine if big data analytics is coupled with blockchain – the possibilities of data integrity are incredible. As blockchain provides a platform for safe and secure transactions, it can act as an effective framework for dealing with the complexities of big data.

The Blockchain Revolution

Although big data analytics is enabling enterprises across the world to drive substantial business value, some challenges can be overcome through blockchain:

• Immutability of the data is crucial to big data analytical models. Blockchain extends the ability to turn insights into immutable assets, allowing superior control of data usage. Powering big data analytics with blockchain can minimize the cost implications of data storage to a large extent; reports suggest that blockchain can help enterprises achieve up to 90% savings.
• The transformation of big data by blockchain will enable isolated data silos to move to blockchain shared data layers, making the process of data access and insights more streamlined. Data will no longer be stored in company databases; rather the owner will shift to individuals and will be represented by secure tokens.

Impact on Industries

Blockchain has been touted as a technology with the potential to disrupt every industry by improving business efficiency and bringing transparency in how enterprises manage business data.

1. Financial: Billions of transactions worth trillions of dollars happen across the global financial system every day. And although big data provides data-driven insights into these transactions, it is incapable of curbing fraud and theft; according to reports, 45% of financial intermediaries suffer from economic crime every year. With blockchain in place, vast amounts of transactional data can be protected from several hurdles, thereby providing the much-needed reliability, transparency, traceability. Do you know? The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is set to be the first mainstream financial market to have a blockchain-based stock exchange.
2. Manufacturing: Over the past decade, manufacturers have been able to optimize processes, improve product quality and yield and reduce waste using big data. Move over to 2018, and manufacturers can now take advantage of blockchain and ensure optimum security of this data and bring in transparency and accountability in their production processes. By having an increased level of visibility, manufacturers can ensure transparent monitoring of transactions, reduced production delays, and assured product authenticity. Do you know? IOT Group Australia has signed an agreement with Hunter Energy, NSW to build a blockchain center inside the Redbank coal-fired power station to provide cheap electricity for blockchain applications.
3. Healthcare: The amount of medical data that gets generated from millions of healthcare devices is unimaginable. Although big data analytics has helped the sector gain insights into this data for improved diagnosis, research, and treatment, blockchain can enable healthcare organizations to break down data access hierarchies and provide every individual with equal access to relevant healthcare data, while maintaining patient privacy. Do you know? screamed, an Australian healthcare start-up, has created a blockchain prescription solution that enables patients to receive prescriptions directly from the clinician to their mobile phones.
4. E-commerce: The e-commerce industry has been leveraging the benefits of big data in predicting trends, understanding buying behavior, forecasting demand, and optimizing prices and customer service. However, e-commerce transactions have always been susceptible to fraud. With blockchain, merchants can ensure the integrity of each transaction by allowing both buyers and sellers to protect themselves by verifying transactions. Do you know? Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is partnering with Australian beef exporter InterAgri to launch a blockchain-enabled traceability system that offers greater transparency in tracking the production and delivery of meat from farms in Australia.
5. IoT: The explosive growth in the number of devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) has resulted in an exponential rise in the amount of data that is being generated. According to Gartner, the revenue generated from IoT-enabled services and products will exceed $300 billion by 2020. Although big data is facilitating the consumption of this enormous data, concerns over data security have been widespread. Blockchain will play a positive role in IoT by ensuring data is exchanged only between authenticated devices. Do you know? Perth-based engineering services company LVX Group and Melbourne-based cybersecurity company VeroGuard Systems have partnered together to secure IoT devices using blockchain technology.

Immense Potential

Blockchain’s potential is irrefutable, and as more and more industries embrace the technology, its overall impact on various aspects of modern life will grow manifold. Although big data will continue to provide detailed insights into data, blockchain will offer a gamut of benefits such as shared control of data, easy auditing, and secure data exchange. Since owning data – especially critical financial data – is always surrounded by controversies, moving data from private data centers onto public blockchains can help enterprises drive innovation by developing the best big data analytical models for open blockchain data layers.