Airline execs praise big data

Computerworld recently asked several current and former airline CIOs about the current state of the air travel industry. The professionals held praise for big data analytics, specifically, the way retail sellers can use information from their customers to build a complete and useful portrait of what buyers want and need.

"Big data is very much key for us. People often say big data and don’t mean it, or they say big data and just think social media. Airlines are incredibly data rich, but it’s really diverse datasets," Virgin Atlantic CIO David Bulman told the source.

The cloud could play a significant part in the future of big data, according to Bulman. He stated that the technology has made it easy to test new ideas for analytics projects. He told the source that he wants to have new analytics projects under way within a year.

The actual function of big data in selling products to consumers can be multi-faceted. Consultant Graham Oakes wrote for Marketing magazine that with big data, retailers can divide their consumers into groups effectively and react quickly to shifts in overall marketing demand. On a general level, companies that embrace big data are more aware than their peers.