Advanced Blog What's so "big" about data anyway?

Big Data, a phrase so full of buzz that it should be given its own bee hive, has undoubtedly affected the way the world looks at information. But if you strip back the hype and look at it objectively, can Big Data really be of use for law firms?For many legal practices (even the big ones) the term Big Data means very little. Let's put it into context;• 3.5 billion - the number of searches per day on Google• 1.5 million - the number of requests per second handled by Amazons Web Services Division• 288 billion - the number of emails sent per day across the globeWith those sorts of numbers it's easy to see why the term Big Data can be dismissed by the legal market but the point is not the size of the data but the type that it is. How we collect and analyse the data is as important as what it tells us.The characteristics of Big Data include volume and velocity (not only the amount but the speed at which it is accumulated) and variety and veracity (the different types of data and the state it appears in - for example the amount of unstructured data that resides within emails). All of this is relative to the business or individual who is handling the data. Businesses who naturally have data at the core of their operation (like law firms), will experience volume, velocity, variety and veracity in their data at some point or another, the skill is how to handle and interpret that data to provide you with relevant and meaningful information.To this end the term "Big" is misleading, in fact it is better referred to as business intelligence and when painted in that light, Big Data suddenly becomes very relevant to law firms.For the legal market Big Data is really just the analysis of the Practice as a business - from accounting data and client trends to referral tracking and department benchmarking - there is a lot of varied data produced by law firms on a daily basis that can not only help track market trends but the performance of the firm too.As an example by combining readily available website data with information from a CRM system, firms can begin to see client buying and research habits - much in the same way that retailers track consumer behaviour before and after a purchase. They can begin to understand the when and where of a purchaser's psyche, what triggers an engagement and what tactics are most effective. This allows a greater understanding as to why purchase decisions are made, the journey that the buyer goes on during the decision making process and helps firms determine what they need to do to guide the purchase process.Similarly with all the penalties and fines in place by the government for failure to submit forms or data in the correct format and in a timely manner it can be highly beneficial for a firm to understand which departments, and specifically individuals, are the biggest "digital" offenders (late submissions, rejected forms etc.). Ensuring they are sufficiently trained to minimise business risk and avoid costly fines.These are just two small, practical examples of where data analysis can help shape a firms performance and direction - with the wealth of tactical and strategic knowledge available to law firms there are plenty more areas where data can help.So for many law firms data is not "big" but it can be clever.