Businesses in many industries are contributing to the rise of Big Data, a confluence of modern data-gathering mechanisms. Larger hard drives and faster CPUs enable people to gather and analyze vast collections of commercial information. Though Google is the largest and most prominent data-gathering operation, retailers like Amazon and Walmart famously gather and analyze enormous amounts of customer data. On a smaller scale, companies of all sizes are utilizing similar procedures. The Big Data revolution is refining the consumer experience in ways that are mostly positive and promising, albeit with looming privacy concerns. For example, modern analytics enable better fraud detection in credit card processing and payments, as well as enhanced marketing and behaviorally targeted promotions to customers.
One successful recent IPO demonstrates the growing relevance of cutting-edge data analysis. Tableau Software has impressed investors with an online platform that turns various types of data into visualizations and charts. Doubling its initial stock price in less than two months, Tableau Software has amply demonstrated the importance of information analysis for diverse industries and organizations.
Throughout the merchant services industry, companies are using analytics to refine systems in ways that are appealing to businesses and consumers alike.
Advances bring greater access to customer information and more ways to analyze that information. This evolution is complemented and affected by the remarkable growth of mobile commerce. For example, consumers who use mobile wallet software increasingly insist on impeccably safe, secure credit card processing. Modern analytics make it far easier to identify suspicious patterns indicating fraudulent activity. Better fraud prevention inspires consumer confidence and leads to greater participation mobile commerce. Customer participation enables the proliferation of more effective, targeted, and individualized marketing and offers. In turn, more transactions lead to larger information sets and further refinements of payments technology. This type of feedback loop is merely one example of the game-changing effects of the Big Data revolution.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this series as we take a more in depth look at ways that big data is changing payments.
