Book Image

Practical Big Data Analytics

By : Nataraj Dasgupta
Book Image

Practical Big Data Analytics

By: Nataraj Dasgupta

Overview of this book

Big Data analytics relates to the strategies used by organizations to collect, organize, and analyze large amounts of data to uncover valuable business insights that cannot be analyzed through traditional systems. Crafting an enterprise-scale cost-efficient Big Data and machine learning solution to uncover insights and value from your organization’s data is a challenge. Today, with hundreds of new Big Data systems, machine learning packages, and BI tools, selecting the right combination of technologies is an even greater challenge. This book will help you do that. With the help of this guide, you will be able to bridge the gap between the theoretical world of technology and the practical reality of building corporate Big Data and data science platforms. You will get hands-on exposure to Hadoop and Spark, build machine learning dashboards using R and R Shiny, create web-based apps using NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, and even learn how to write R code for neural networks. By the end of the book, you will have a very clear and concrete understanding of what Big Data analytics means, how it drives revenues for organizations, and how you can develop your own Big Data analytics solution using the different tools and methods articulated in this book.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Title Page
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface

The human factor


The significant advantages of big data and data science notwithstanding, their successes and breakthrough growth, it is still important to bear in mind that the element of human thinking is essential in all endeavors.

Big data technologies will allow us to analyze data more efficiently. But we still need to use proper judgment to decide on our ideal use cases. This is not trivial. Large companies find initiatives just as challenging (although at a higher scale) as seasoned big data professionals.

Similarly, data science and machine learning can empower us to make predictions and gain foresight with the help of sophisticated algorithms and code. However, it is still incumbent upon the user to evaluate the results and make decisions not solely based on the predicted output. Users should apply common sense and experience in making such assessments. If the GPS instructs the driver to go on a certain road on a snowy winter night and the driver knows that the road won't have been...