Big Data benefiting small business lending

Big Data holds potential for a number of markets - the retail sector is looking at customer information to tailor product offerings, the healthcare industry is using patient data collected in health IT tools to make correlations, and now, banks are finding it helpful to evaluate small business' credibility, as Business Insider reports.

By collecting, sorting and analyzing the vast amounts of financial information from loan applications, credit reports and client demographics, bank underwriters can spread out risk across a geographic area and develop offerings that better serve the needs of startups, the source explains. Using the data can also help banks speed up application processes and conserve resources by identifying which areas require additional resources, and those from which assets can be diverted.

As financial institutions start to collect more information, however, they will need to implement tools that can address data quality and cleansing needs. Some businesses tend to hoard data, allured by its promise, Business Review Europe explains.

Accumulating too much and failing to purge old information or move it to a separate database can cause operational issues. To truly take advantage of the potential of Big Data, businesses need to establish clear goals for their analytics and weed out the important information, rather than keeping it all.