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A Research On Big Data

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It is hard nowadays not to hear news about “big data”. As technology continues to grow, companies are constantly trying to leverage them to remain competitive. Scientists, governments, and even the media are now also invested in extracting big data for their uses. McKinsey Global Institute (2011) defines big data as “datasets whose size is beyond the ability of typical database software tools to capture, store, manage, and analyze”. Furthermore, Barnatt (2012) explains that big data can be categorized into the three V’s: volume, velocity, and variety. Technologies like the internet, smartphones, computers, appliances, and automobiles are creating expansive amounts of data every second which contributes to the volume of data. …show more content…

These examples illustrate some good uses for big data in the healthcare sector. However, there are some big obstacles that would need to be addressed for their vision to become reality. The most important issue would be overcoming privacy concerns from both the enterprise and consumer. Sharing personal health information freely does not sound securing to most individuals. We fear that companies could use this data against us when we apply for healthcare coverage or even getting fair life insurance coverage which depends on our health. In some European countries like France, getting a mortgage loan will require passing a health inspection to make sure you are likely able to pay the loan back. This practice has prevented many individuals from owning a home. And we’re not sure what type of criteria these companies are using to determine what they consider as a ‘good’ applicant versus a ‘bad’ applicant as companies do not share their information to the public. This also leads to the other point that companies are reluctant to share their ‘intellectual property’ to their competitors in the fear of losing their competitive edge. However, in order to have a successful comprehensive database for tracking possible fraud or providing performance-based pricing plans, companies

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