Making Big Data democratic The Big Data revolution provides businesses with new insights into their customers, yet making sense of it without data science skills is prohibitively difficult. MyKite brings Big Data analysis to the masses. Digital Economy © HelloRF Zcool, Shutterstock Big Data has moved beyond just being a buzz word, and is the driving force behind much of the business world today. Information on both existing and potential customers offers businesses the possibility of unique and critical insights, which can boost their performance and make customers happier at the same time. Yet without advanced – or even basic – knowledge of data science, much of this information stays locked away in the cells of a spreadsheet. As a result, many small businesses are not taking advantage of the Big Data revolution. The Horizon 2020-funded MyKite project developed a software platform of the same name, designed to bridge this knowledge gap. MyKite harnesses information from blogs, websites, social media, forums and news, and turns it into narrative information easily accessible to even the least data-savvy professional. The information is translated into videos and text on a user-friendly web dashboard, and summarises findings in a story. “MyKite stems from the company’s desire and drive to make Big Data democratic,” says Paolo Errico, CEO of Maxfone and MyKite project coordinator. Finding the story MyKite was designed with SMEs in mind, working in any sector and without internal data analytics in the business. Industrial and trade associations, consulting companies, individual freelancers and anyone else who realises that Big Data has the potential to offer huge benefits stand to gain. “As an example, MyKite could be used by a small or medium-sized wine producer to understand their positioning in the market and in the consumer’s mind in terms of awareness and reputation,” explains Errico. “They could understand what trends are influencing the national and international wine sectors to deduce which direction the markets are moving towards, and shaping business, sales and marketing strategies as a consequence.” Users can access the platform, and see in-depth analysis about the company itself, which draws on everything from news to market data as source material. MyKite also includes an innovative recommendation feature, which highlights uncommon or unnoticed connections between topics and sectors in the market. This adds extra value by identifying new business opportunities involving connection between unrelated topics, and providing information about the links. On the site, MyKite presents all the gathered information as a stream of market trends, as well as services through videos easily accessible to all viewers. Users of the software can access the constantly updating analysis at any time. “MyKite’s USP is the accessibility of data, both from a financial and from an ease-of-fruition point of view,” says Errico. Spreading the word Despite there being some appreciation for the benefits of Big Data among SMEs, there is still a lack of knowledge on the topic across all industries. Spreading awareness of both Big Data’s potential influence, and the ability of MyKite to present all the information in an easy-to-access manner, is a key strategic goal for the team. “MyKite is currently being developed and we are looking to submit the solution for the Horizon 2020 – EIC Accelerator programme in order to speed up this activity. In this regard, the company plans to grow its team by adding high-level computer scientists, data analysts, graphic designers and sales profiles to bring MyKite’s disruptive innovation to the Big Data business intelligence market,” Errico says. Keywords MyKite, Big Data, revolution, story, social media, dashboard, access
