By Chung Sung-il

Recently, many telecom and web-based companies have been trying to respond to a large amount of “tele-traffic,” due to the dramatic increase of smartphone usage.

Wikipedia, a free, web-based, multilingual encyclopedia, for example, recently halted its service for an entire day in protest against the U.S. government’s online regulatory policies _ two congressional bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) that have attracted fierce opposition from the technology industry.

This action caused millions of people to have a hard time searching for information.

Before the 21st century, standardized data was a dominant type of data. However, after the 21st century, most data had typical formats, such as voice, video and pictures.

As you see above, “data” has tremendous power in human life, and keeps changing in various different types and forms.

Some organizations that long predate the digital age are masters at analysis. For instance Continental Airlines, which was founded in 1934 and recently merged with United Airlines, is a good example. For its most profitable customers, whenever the flight is delayed, or if the airline loses their bag, cabin crews are automatically alerted the next time they fly.

However with so much data available, from so many different sources, the company may actually be possible to build a 360 degree view of the customer; but for most companies, 15 degrees will do.

At the same time, in today’s hypercompetitive, fast-moving environment, what you know about your customers is constantly diminishing in value. As the lifetime of information shrinks, it is critically important not only to find the right data, but to constantly refresh the data that you have.

Now companies should be aware of this change, and deeply consider how they can make full use of these data for their business. It is time to apply “Data Analytic Technology” proactively to quickly collect data and analyze them so that you can react to customers’ needs in real-time.

Chung Sung-il is an Enterprise Applications Group leader at Deloitte Consulting Korea.