Big data, used to term the vast quantity of data collected from any one of a number of sources such as customers, suppliers or Internet of Things (IoT) devices, is conventionally collected and stored on physical servers, or in the cloud – almost always in a digital form.

Big data analytics uses mathematical and statistical algorithms to find meaning by exposing buried patterns, unspecified correlations, trends and consumer preferences. People can use these findings to make better, more informed business decisions.

Tools to analyse data, be it in a data warehouse, or a data lake that stores data in its native format, are still emerging. In the future there will be a number of trends that will determine how Big Data and associated analytics will operate.