Not Just for Corporate Giants

Tip the Scales in Your Favor With Bigger Better Data

“The biggest disruptor that we’re sure about is the arrival of big data and machine intelligence everywhere. The ability to find people, to talk specifically to them, to judge them, to rank what they’re doing, to decide what to do with your products… (it) changes every business globally.” – Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google as quoted in an article on Huffington Post.com

Research shows that big data has become the keystone of business, granting that competitive edge that companies must have in order to sustain growth. As data points increase in volume and detail through social media, the Internet of Things, and multimedia, the possibilities for businesses to gather that information and zoom in on their target is immeasurable.

Regardless of how we feel about it, data collection happens in everything we do. Data points are gathered, stored, analyzed and used regarding every transaction we make, what we own, what we owe, what we buy, what we are interested in, what we “like”, where we went to school, our age, our marital status, our… well, ad infintum really.

While it is fairly easy for giants like Craig’s List, Netflix, or Amazon to utilize big data to take advantage of existing opportunities, or to create new ones, small to midsize businesses of every kind, including real estate investment, often miss out because they decide that big data either doesn’t apply to them and their business, or that it is just too big and complex for them to access, organize, store, analyze and benefit from.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Granted, in the past, companies seeking to tap into big data needed to purchase expensive hardware and software, build out data centers, hire consultants, and invest huge amounts of time, money and resources in analytics. However, information technology developments such as cloud computing, open-source software, and software as a service have changed all that. New, inexpensive ways to learn from data are emerging all the time.

Steve King, partner at Emergent Research and coauthor of the recent report The New Data Democracy: How Big Data Will Revolutionize the Lives of Small Businesses and Consumers said, “Small businesses shouldn’t be scared off by big data…. The growth of the Internet, wireless networks, smartphones, social media, sensors and other digital technology is fueling a big data revolution. Big data was the exclusive domain of statisticians and large corporations, but not anymore.”

Real estate investment may not be the first industry that comes to mind when one thinks of cutting edge technology and big data processing; nevertheless, investors everywhere are harnessing the power of big data to save time, money and energy.

Gone are the days of driving around and scouring newspapers looking for available properties. No longer do investors need to waste time and money finding the right person to talk to- the property owner who has the legal ability to sell.

Systems like Find Motivated Sellers Now collect data points that show which properties in the area are vacant. In addition to that, the system reveals the owner of the property and the contact information for that person.

Moving property is a breeze, as well; no more searching for the right buyer for that great deal you signed. With handy, easy to use systems that reside in the cloud, finding cash buyers is a snap because you’ve got an entire database of them at your fingertips.

In fact, industry specific database software is not the only big data benefit available to real estate investors or any other small business. Today there is a vast assortment of technologies that grant small businesses easy access to cost effective, complex data analytics. Google Adwords is just one easy and obvious example. With the kind of insight that Adwords offers, decision making and market discernment is very easy to access and integrate for better results.

Big data. Not just for the big guys anymore.