It’s no surprise that data analytics has become an important tool across organizations. According to Robert Hetu, research director at Gartner, “Advanced analytics tools enable deeper insights and discovery that will challenge business assumptions. They also put information in the hands of business analysts and business users and offer significant potential to create business value and competitive advantage.” Among many benefits, using data can help companies save thousands of pounds, improve their procurement efficiency, develop their marketing strategies, support business growth and, critically, differentiate themselves from competitors.

With that in mind, you are writing a research paper on how companies use Big Data and Predictive Analytics to achieve a competitive advantage. Of course, not all companies use this data the same way. Additionally, mishandling data, as did Equifax and Uber, can lead to serious consequences. That’s why it must be done correctly.

Your team will take an industry, find the top three or four firms in that industry, and talk about how they use Big Data and Predictive analytics within their firm and across the industry. The topics must include, but should not be limited to, the following.
Companies Chosen: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
4.    Individual Companies
a.    Brief (one or two paragraph) history of the company?
b.    What data do they gather?
c.    Why are those data important to them?
d.    How do they gather the data?