'Big data' is not a new concept. In fact, it is the processing of big data that determines your suggested books on Amazon, or the advertisement that plays before your YouTube video. Digital corporations such as Google and IBM have been harnessing big data for much longer than mainstream academia has been discussing it, the latter for at least two decades. Big data is, in its simplest form, the analysis of extremely large data sets to reveal patterns, behaviour and trends, especially in a human behavioural sense. So why has it only been noticed by government institutions and think-tanks over the last two years?

They are changing the way industries work, but do you know what they are?

In the Digital age today, the world has become smaller and faster.

Global audio & video calls which were available only in corporate offices, are now available to the common man.

Each year, new data comes out that indicates customer service and the customer experience (CX) are more important than ever. According to Forrester, 72% of businesses say that improving the customer experience is their top priority. A study from NewVoiceMedia indicates that companies lose more than $62 billion due to poor customer service. No company can afford to be a customer service laggard. So, what can leadership do to ensure they stay up, stay competitive and stay relevant? Pay close attention to what’s trending in the world of customer service and CX. Here are 10 trends you shouldn’t ignore. There’s something here that will impact every type of business.

Like mobile and cloud, big data and advanced analytics have been reshaping organizations and business processes. In 2016, organizations increasingly moved data analytics projects into production as they sought the capability to better interrogate internal and external data to better understand their customers and drive efficiencies.

Here are our picks for the most significant big data and advanced analytics trends in 2016, as illustrated in 15 stories from the past year.

The polls have been proven wrong twice in 2016 – first in the Brexit vote, and more recently in the U.S. Presidential Election, the two most closely watched and hotly contested political events this year. Yet, our 4C analysis of social media engagement identified that both the Trump campaigns and the Leave camp were going to win prior to the votes.

Business analytics, also called business intelligence or BI, involves gathering and interpreting data for businesses. Business intelligence has many players, the titansbeing Oracle, SAP, and IBM, the established specialists being SAS, MicroStrategy, and Information Builders, and notable emerging players are Tableau, TIBCO, QlikTech, Birst, andLogi Analytics. There has been an increase in the uptake of business analytics over the past few years among start-ups because of the many benefits these tools give.

Long before “Big Data” analysis was cool, Paul DePodesta brought it to the big leagues. And today, his story will be told on the big screen.

A phase of DePodesta’s career is depicted in the movie “Moneyball,” which premieres today on more than 3,800 screens around the country.

IBM's Watson is working with cancer centers to create treatment plans for patients battling different tumor types.

In an era of genomics and big data, medicine is getting to be as much about computer analytics as it is about listening to patients' complaints and asking them to say "ah." Imagine a day when your oncologist can sequence your genes and pinpoint the treatment most likely to save your life based on your genetic makeup – in minutes, with just a few clicks.