In today’s digital world, data is often viewed as a valuable commodity and is frequently treated with the same care as other assets. Its importance in decision-making, planning, research, and strategizing cannot be overemphasized. However, there are two types of data that are essential in the management and analysis process: structured data and unstructured data.
Structured data refers to information that has a precise format, making it easily searchable and sortable in databases, spreadsheets, and similar systems. Examples of structured data include sales records, customer behavior patterns, and web traffic statistics.
On the other hand, unstructured data varies in terms of format or content, and the wide range of possible data sources can be incompatible, confusing to interpret, and challenging to analyze or understand. Examples of unstructured data include social media posts, website logs, and streaming video.
In this article, we will explore non-relational databases (NoSQL) and data lakes – two technologies that have gained widespread adoption in managing unstructured data. We will also discuss the advantages of unstructured data in broad research projects and see how AI will play a significant role in processing unstructured data in the next decade.
NoSQL Databases
Traditionally, databases have been structured using a column-based or relational format where data is organized into tables of rows and columns. But as the web became a dominant source of data, it became increasingly clear that the rigid structure of relational databases wouldn’t work well. To tackle this problem, developers created NoSQL databases.
NoSQL databases are non-relational databases that do not rely on fixed schema structures in tables. They are flexible and scalable, with a variety of models that developers can choose from depending on their unique needs. They also allow developers to focus on storing and retrieving data rather than on complex data query languages. Common types of NoSQL databases include document databases, key-value pair databases, and graph databases.
Benefits of Using NoSQL Databases for Unstructured Data
NoSQL databases are ideal for managing and processing unstructured data because of their flexibility and scalability. They offer benefits such as high performance, horizontal scalability, fault tolerance, and flexible data modeling. This operational agility makes NoSQL databases a favorite choice for quickly scaling web applications. Furthermore, document-oriented databases can be ideal for use cases that handle text or binary files, such as email systems or content management systems.
However, NoSQL databases and other unstructured data management solutions offer more than just agile storage and retrieval of big data. These advanced systems enable organizations to gain unique insights into customer trends, market preferences, and other data-driven solutions that help them stay competitive.
Unstructured Data in Research
While it may not be as easy to work with as structured data, unstructured data can provide broad research projects with unique insights that may shed light on the latest trends, patterns, and consumer preferences. Unstructured data can provide a more complete picture of complex systems, offer insights into customer behavior, and generate detailed visualizations of the data for deeper analysis.
Unstructured data used by NoSQL databases are especially useful because they are faster to process and can be more flexible than structured data used by relational databases. Unstructured data also provides insights into topic modeling, sentiment analysis, image and video analysis, and more. These insights can offer deeper and more nuanced views of the industry’s inner workings, so businesses can make better decisions.
Historical Context
The rise in data analysis opportunities can be traced back to the earlier parts of the internet era in the 1990s and early 2000s. While the majority of data storage solutions were built to store structured data, unstructured data began to grow in popularity more recently. Social media platforms, online content streaming services, mobile device applications, and other new sources of data contributed to large quantities of unstructured data being generated daily.
Data Lakes
Data lakes were created as a means to cope with sudden surges in data and rely on a central repository of data to facilitate analytics. Data lakes provide endless opportunities for organizations looking to take advantage of big data. These centralized repositories of raw data allow data to be stored without the expensive process of configuring it first. In essence, data lakes allow businesses to store data in its original form, without requiring the expensive preparation that a structured data program would require.
Data Lakehouses
Despite the advantages of data lakes, one drawback of using them is that they may lack proper governance, making the data hard to manage effectively or to integrate with formal IT management systems. Data lakehouses, which are still in development, have the goal of storing and accessing unstructured data while providing the benefits of structured data/SQL systems. By facilitating the ability to apply a variety of tools and processing engines to unify data from diverse sources, data lakehouses can elevate the quality of insights provided and increase the visibility of these insights to a broader audience.
Structured data is incredibly powerful due to its ease of use. It can be used by a wider range of analysts and existing tools, making it possible to aggregate data quickly and mine for insights. Additionally, structured data management solutions are commonly used for managing frequent data entry requirements, allowing businesses to save time by entering data rapidly and creating reports. These solutions can be invaluable for easily repeating data reports, creating data dashboards, and filtering data by criteria to deliver specific outcomes.
Flexibility of Working with Unstructured Data
Non-relational databases like NoSQL and data lakes are ideal for managing unstructured data because of their flexibility in handling different data formats. For instance, NoSQL databases can handle document-based data, which includes XML, JSON, and other types of data that do not have a standard structure. Furthermore, data lakes can handle various data formats, including audio, text, videos, and images, allowing businesses to leverage larger amounts of unstructured data to support their operational goals.
The Future of Unstructured Data
Over the next decade, the use of unstructured data will become much more commonplace with cutting-edge technologies pushing the boundaries of machine intelligence and deep learning models. These advancements will provide businesses with deeper insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends. Unstructured data will become so prevalent that it will add value to businesses, augmenting traditional structured data. We see that unstructured data challenges will be more accessible to small and large businesses alike, and companies are encouraged to utilize unstructured data as much as possible to understand insights that can impact their bottom line.
AI and Unstructured Data
Artificial intelligence is already playing an essential role in enabling businesses to manage and analyze unstructured data. This technology can automate data aggregation, sorting, and analysis, allowing businesses to leverage the insights of machine learning models to support their operations. AI can also enable more sophisticated visualization techniques, helping businesses to summarize and present unstructured data in ways that users can quickly grasp. Finally, machine intelligence can be used to build predictive models, allowing businesses to understand patterns in unstructured data that indicate trends, preferences, and opportunities.
Managing structured and unstructured data will continue to evolve and become more complex in the upcoming years. NoSQL databases and data lakes offer some of the most comprehensive and modern solutions available for managing unstructured data. The advantages of using these technologies are numerous, including faster data processing, enhanced data analytics and insights, and more granular control over data governance. The future of unstructured data is abundant with potential, especially with the advancement and ubiquity of artificial intelligence systems. Businesses can leverage structured and unstructured data to become data-driven and make informed decisions that contribute to their competitive advantage, provided they have the right tools and mindset.
