--- title: "Opera Solutions' Blog: The Hottest Spot for Practical AI and Big Data Science | Big Data (3)" description: Big Data | Opera Solutions is the largest independent predictive analytics company in the world, providing Practical AI and Big Data Analytics as an ongoing service to blue-chip clients across the globe. (3) --- [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Opera_Solutions_Logo_Standard_RGB-72.png?width=369&height=202&name=Opera_Solutions_Logo_Standard_RGB-72.png "Opera_Solutions_Logo_Standard_RGB-72.png")](https://www.operasolutions.com/) ![Blog_Header-4](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Header-4.png?width=3377&name=Blog_Header-4.png "Blog_Header-4") [![Blog_Banner_v3](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Banner_v3.png?width=3713&name=Blog_Banner_v3.png "Blog_Banner_v3")](https://blog.operasolutions.com) ## [Big Data Analytics: Necessary but Not Sufficient](https://blog.operasolutions.com/big-data-analytics-necessary-but-not-sufficient) Posted by [John Mack](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/john-mack) on Thu, Jun 30, 2016 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![blog_spot_300wide.jpg](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hubfs/blog_spot_300wide.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/big-data-analytics-necessary-but-not-sufficient) --- **Part 2 of 4: Grow Revenue from Your Existing Customers: How Big Data Analytics Can Help** *This post is the second in a four-part series. The first installment, “[Go Beyond the Symptoms: How to Overcome Revenue Growth Challenges,](https://blog.operasolutions.com/grow-revenue-by-using-big-data-more-intelligently)” discussed the key signs of slowing growth and the first steps organizations can take to turn it around. Here, we’ll discuss three new ways in which companies can use Big Data analytics to improve a business’ ability to consistently improve revenue growth from their existing customers.* Big Data analytics in 2016 occupies roughly the same spot in the corporate consciousness as did the concept of cloud computing in 2008. By now, every world-class company that generates vast quantities of data has recognized that this data has exceptionally high value as an asset. These companies have made technology investments accordingly, procuring software solutions to organize, analyze, and manage the data, storage solutions (cloud or on-premise) to facilitate access to and distribution of the data, and often also professional services to enable and operate this infrastructure. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/big-data-analytics-necessary-but-not-sufficient) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Signal Hub Technologies](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/signal-hub-technologies), [Analytics](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/analytics) ## [5 Obstacles to Achieving Scalable Data Science, and How to Overcome Them](https://blog.operasolutions.com/5-obstacles-to-scalable-data-science-and-how-to-overcome-them) Posted by [Anatoli Olkhovets](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/anatoli-olkhovets) on Wed, Jun 22, 2016 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hubfs/RunnerHurdles.png)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/5-obstacles-to-scalable-data-science-and-how-to-overcome-them) *The struggle is real — and it’s becoming increasingly apparent to companies that have dipped their toes into popular data science tools. As enterprises test the limits of their new tools, old technology, and data scientists’ time, their infrastructure is starting to show its cracks. Read on to see how these issues are revealing themselves — and more importantly — gather some ideas on what to do about it.* Over the past year, I have been averaging 2–3 customer meetings per week, resulting in over 100 customer and partner conversations around Big Data, analytics, and data science for the enterprise. From these conversations, I have found one key recurring theme: ***scale****.* Large enterprises no longer want to build one model quickly or implement just one use case in production. They all struggle with a large backlog of ideas. They need a way to rapidly turn these many ideas into real use cases that deliver tangible business value. However, many companies simply can’t find a pathway to make this happen. Across my numerous conversations, I noticed very similar patterns and identified 5 common obstacles that can prevent companies from achieving scale for data science. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/5-obstacles-to-scalable-data-science-and-how-to-overcome-them) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Data Science](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-science), [Signal Hub Technologies](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/signal-hub-technologies), [Machine Learning](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/machine-learning), [Hadoop](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/hadoop), [Analytics](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/analytics), [Spark](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/spark) ## [Grow Revenue by Using Big Data More Intelligently](https://blog.operasolutions.com/grow-revenue-by-using-big-data-more-intelligently) Posted by [John Mack](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/john-mack) on Fri, Jun 17, 2016 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![ThinkstockPhotos-99717805.jpg](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hubfs/ThinkstockPhotos-99717805.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/grow-revenue-by-using-big-data-more-intelligently) #### **Go Beyond the Symptoms: How to Overcome Revenue Growth Challenges** **Part 1 of 4: Grow Revenue from Your Existing Customers: How Big Data Analytics Can Help** *This post is the first in a four-part series. Here, we discuss the key signs of slowing revenue growth and the first steps organizations can take to turn it around.* It isn't hard to Identify the symptoms of declining revenue growth. Often, more than one of the classic signs will be evident at any given time. A declining growth rate or a shortfall in revenue vs. the target level are perhaps the most obvious indicators. Operating expenses growing faster than revenue can be yet another strong harbinger of revenue growth challenges, as well as a potential indicator of a cost structure that is no longer aligned with the business’ sales capabilities. While they require more research and calculation to derive, declining market share or shrinking revenue growth rates vs. competitors are other telltale signs. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/grow-revenue-by-using-big-data-more-intelligently) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Signal Hub Technologies](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/signal-hub-technologies), [Marketing](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/marketing) ## [5 Key Big Data Trends to Watch](https://blog.operasolutions.com/5-key-big-data-trends-to-watch) Posted by [John Mack](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/john-mack) on Tue, Feb 23, 2016 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hubfs/Trends.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/5-key-big-data-trends-to-watch) As a company that works intensively with Fortune 500 companies, our finger is firmly on the pulse of the latest needs, wants, and aspirations of the world’s biggest Big Data drivers. Here are five key trends we’re seeing for 2016 and beyond. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/5-key-big-data-trends-to-watch) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Machine Learning](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/machine-learning) ## [The Key to Making Big Data Valuable: Make It Personal](https://blog.operasolutions.com/the-key-to-making-big-data-valuable-make-it-personal) Posted by [Laks Srinivasan](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/laks-srinivasan) on Mon, Oct 26, 2015 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hubfs/OS_SignalCentral_SandHill_Byline_GP_2015_V1.0-02-1.png)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/the-key-to-making-big-data-valuable-make-it-personal) Most companies realize they are sitting on a treasure trove of customer data that has the potential to deliver tremendous business benefits; however, most also have no idea how to realize those benefits. How can companies use their data to bring in more customers, increase the amount they spend, and make them more loyal? How can companies use data to turn unhappy customers into loyal champions of the brand? And perhaps most important, how can companies use that data to drive a significant increase in revenue?   [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/the-key-to-making-big-data-valuable-make-it-personal) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Data Science](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-science), [Marketing](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/marketing) ## [How Natural Language Processing Can Improve Spend Analytics](https://blog.operasolutions.com/how-natural-language-processing-can-improve-spend-analytics) Posted by [Sushil Sharma](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/sushil-sharma) on Wed, Aug 19, 2015 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hubfs/OS_SignalCentral_Natura_Language_Processing_and_Spend_Analytics_GP_2015_V1.0-01.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/how-natural-language-processing-can-improve-spend-analytics) Have you ever wondered how Google or Hotmail finds and blocks a single spam email out of billions of emails? Or how companies analyze tweets for customer sentiment? Or how questionable content is identified on a Website? Natural language processing (NLP) does this in real time — and it can be used for a lot more than spam filtering. When it comes to analyzing a company's spend, the old adage "what gets measured gets managed" is definitely true. However, measuring an enterprise's spend when you have free-text fields, or fields where employees can type in any response they want, can be an insurmountable task. Rarely do two people use the same words and phrases to describe the same thing. Even spelling varies. These variations make measuring how much is being spent on a given category or with a given vendor a very common challenge. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/how-natural-language-processing-can-improve-spend-analytics) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Supply Chain & Operations](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/supply-chain-operations) ## [The Growing Government Open Data Movement](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/390746/The-Growing-Government-Open-Data-Movement) Posted by [Daniel D. Gutierrez](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/daniel-d-gutierrez) on Mon, Jul 07, 2014 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hs-fs/file-1147510343-jpg/images/os_signalcentral-government-open-data_gp_2014_v1.0-300.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/390746/The-Growing-Government-Open-Data-Movement) It was 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and the 10th floor of Los Angeles City Hall was filled with more than 450 people gathered to spend their day off of work with their noses buried in their laptops. They were data scientists, and they had come to innovate new technologies to solve complex social problems using the city’s newly open data. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/390746/The-Growing-Government-Open-Data-Movement) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Data Science](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-science) ## [My Struggle With Marketing Automation](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/390322/My-Struggle-With-Marketing-Automation) Posted by [Todd Higginson](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/todd-higginson) on Mon, Jun 30, 2014 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hs-fs/file-1106290924-jpg/images/wheels.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/390322/My-Struggle-With-Marketing-Automation) *Marketing automation's time has finally come, but it's been a long, tortuous road.* I’m a big fan of marketing automation. My experience goes back a few years. I was just getting settled at a new company when our CFO received a renewal invoice from a marketing automation vendor. She didn’t know how we were using the software, and neither did I.  [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/390322/My-Struggle-With-Marketing-Automation) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Machine Learning](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/machine-learning), [Marketing](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/marketing) ## [Data Science As the Panacea for Healthcare Fraud, Waste, and Abuse](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/388511/data-science-as-the-panacea-for-healthcare-fraud-waste-and-abuse) Posted by [Daniel D. Gutierrez](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/daniel-d-gutierrez) on Thu, Jun 12, 2014 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hs-fs/file-981521063-jpg/images/os_signalcentral-healthcare-fraud_gp_2041_v1.0-02-300.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/388511/data-science-as-the-panacea-for-healthcare-fraud-waste-and-abuse) *Edited by [Yan Zhang](mailto:yzhang2@operasolutions.com)* Many pundits speaking about the state of the nation’s healthcare infrastructure routinely point to fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) as major reasons for many of the problems the public witnesses every day – increased healthcare costs and the resulting increase in insurance premiums. The net effect is an annual loss of billions of dollars, and these losses affect the public in very real ways.  The size of the healthcare sector, the enormous amount of money involved, and the lack of surveillance and monitoring mechanisms across the healthcare ecosystem make it an attractive target for FWA. According to the Office of Management and Budget, in 2010, about 9%, or [$47.9 billion](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jan/04/darrell-issa/rep-darrell-issa-claims-government-could-save-125-/) was lost to fraud in Medicare alone. It is therefore imperative to develop effective FWA technologies and solutions for reducing the costs associated with our healthcare system. Data science and its primary enabling methodology of machine learning represent the country’s best chance for detecting FWA to avoid extraordinary sources of loss. Data science possesses the facilities to make a significant difference healthcare industry budgets and their impact to the public. Opera Solutions is the industry leader in applying Big Data technologies to the most challenging and significant business problems. We are the company charged with developing the analytics to identify fraud for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the health insurance exchanges. Here’s a look into just how big this challenge is — and some of the approaches we’re taking to overcome one of the costliest burdens in America. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/388511/data-science-as-the-panacea-for-healthcare-fraud-waste-and-abuse) Topics: [Healthcare](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/healthcare), [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Data Science](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-science), [Machine Learning](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/machine-learning) ## [Data vs. Gut Instinct: How Will You Drive Your Business?](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/386492/Data-vs-Gut-Instinct-How-Will-You-Drive-Your-Business) Posted by [Daniel D. Gutierrez](https://blog.operasolutions.com/author/daniel-d-gutierrez) on Tue, May 20, 2014 - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://blog.operasolutions.com/hs-fs/file-831836901-jpg/images/os_cnn-total-views-illustration_gp_2014_fnl.jpg)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/386492/Data-vs-Gut-Instinct-How-Will-You-Drive-Your-Business) Corporate executives make dozens of business decisions every day — most of which are invisible to the general population. But one business decision of late stands out as a stark exception: CNN’s decision to focus on missing Malaysian flight 370 (MH370) long after other news sources moved on. Some CNN watchers grew tired of the endless coverage, especially as other big stories fought for attention elsewhere. Yet CNN seemed to be stubbornly obsessed with the missing flight. For the first time in a long time — possibly ever — people were questioning why an entire network was ignoring major human interest stories — including a sunken ferry with nearly 300 teenage casualties in South Korea and 200 kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria — in favor of one human interest story that was no longer news. CNN even became the butt of jokes for its coverage. [Read More](https://blog.operasolutions.com/bid/386492/Data-vs-Gut-Instinct-How-Will-You-Drive-Your-Business) Topics: [Big Data](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data), [Analytics](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/analytics) [Previous](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data/page/2) [All posts](https://blog.operasolutions.com/all) [Next](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data/page/4) ### Subscribe to Email Updates ### Recent Posts ### Posts by Topic - [Big Data (75)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/big-data) - [Machine Learning (38)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/machine-learning) - [Data Science (32)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-science) - [Signal Hub Technologies (27)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/signal-hub-technologies) - [Analytics (26)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/analytics) - [Marketing (23)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/marketing) - [Press Releases (22)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/press-releases) - [Arnab Gupta (16)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/arnab-gupta) - [Events (10)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/events) - [Healthcare (10)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/healthcare) - [Signals (10)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/signals) - [Partners (8)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/partners) - [Artificial Intelligence (7)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/artificial-intelligence) - [Competitions (7)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/competitions) - [Supply Chain & Operations (7)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/supply-chain-operations) - [Videos (6)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/videos) - [Mobiuss (5)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/mobiuss) - [Security & Defense (4)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/security-defense) - [Data Equity (3)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-equity) - [Customer Yield Management (2)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/customer-yield-management) - [Hadoop (2)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/hadoop) - [OperaNotebook (2)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/operanotebook) - [Practical AI (2)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/practical-ai) - [SoftwareUpdates (2)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/softwareupdates) - [Spark (2)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/spark) - [Transformative AI (2)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/transformative-ai) - [CinemaAI (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/cinemaai) - [Data Management (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-management) - [Data Preparation (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-preparation) - [Data Quality (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/data-quality) - [EMR (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/emr) - [Integration (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/integration) - [MDM (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/mdm) - [Optimization (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/optimization) - [Payment Integrity (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/payment-integrity) - [Personalization (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/personalization) - [Revenue Commander (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/revenue-commander) - [Revenue Cycle AI (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/revenue-cycle-ai) - [SignalExpressionSyntax (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/signalexpressionsyntax) - [Telecommunications and Media (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/telecommunications-and-media) - [TravelAI (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/travelai) - [predictive analytics (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/predictive-analytics) - [revenue cycle management (1)](https://blog.operasolutions.com/topic/revenue-cycle-management) see all [![Opera Solutions](https://www.operasolutions.com/themes/opera/logo.svg)](http://operasolutions.com/) © Opera Solutions OpCo, LLC. 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