Case Study of UBER in Taxi Industry
Use of information and data has amplified in the business organizations of the present times. There is a lot of data that business organizations that are set up in different sectors make use of on a daily basis. This data includes the company information, details of the partners, data around the projects and clients, supplier data and a lot more. This data comes from a variety of sources and due to the increase in demand of data and data related operations, Big Data came into existence. Big Data is a term that refers to the large and huge clusters of data that are analyzed using automated tools so that patterns and trends may be revealed from the same[1].
The document is a reflective journal that includes the topic as “Use of Big Data by Business Organizations – Case Study of UBER in Taxi Industry”. UBER brought a disruption in the field of public transport and Big Data has a great role to play in the success of the same.
UBER is a company that emerged and brought a disruption in the field of public transport and taxi services that are provided to the customers. UBER does not own a single car and has a huge customer base associated with it. The idea and functioning of the organization is a kind of its own and there is a huge role of Big Data and its concepts in the success of UBER.
With the growth and expansion of UBER, it became a matter of interest to research upon the methodologies and techniques that were used and applied by the company so as to achieve its objectives[2]. UBER gradually took hold of a lot of market shares and brought a disruptive innovation in the market that became a trigger event in conducting a research on the methods that are used by the company and the techniques that are applied.
All of these reasons collaborated in the selection of the topic and the decision to go ahead with the case study of UBER to understand the use and application of Big Data in the same.
There were many concepts and learnings that were achieved by conducting a research on the topic. Big Data and Data Science have evolved over the years and are being used by the business organizations in every sector[3].
The research on the application and use of Big Data in UBER led to the understanding of the advantages that it brought to the company. There is a lot of customer information that is associated with UBER and the services that are provided by the company are entirely based upon the user information and response that is provided. For instance, if a customer books a taxi from one location to another, then UBER gathers and stores the information around time of booking, type of taxi selected, feedback provided, frequency of booking, mode of payment etc. The information is required to be analyzed so that the preferences and patterns can be understood and there may be improvements done in the services that are provided[4]. UBER got hold of this idea and made use of Big Data to analyze the information and data associated with the company.
Application of Big Data in UBER
The research had a positive impact as it allowed a deeper understanding of the research topic and also provided answers to many of the research questions. The research covered the impacts that UBER had on the competitors as it succeeded in achieving a competitive advantage among the traditional taxi service providers in the market. In UK, UBER emerged as a market winner by spreading its services and managing to achieve a preferred choice for the customers. Also, the research allowed understanding of the role of Big Data in the journey of UBER as it is these technologies that have allowed UBER to have a successful performance.
The research added a lot to the existing knowledge and also contributed immensely to the learnings in terms of Big Data and its concepts[5].
Before the conduction of the research, it was believed that Big Data is a concept that allows management and storage of huge data and information sets that are related with a particular party. It was not known that data analysis makes an important aspect of Big Data and there are several other data related operations that can also be performed by making use of Big Data. In case of UBER, the prior knowledge was limited as the information around the functioning of the organization along with the methodologies that it uses was not known.
However, conduction of the research allowed the addition of several new concepts and points to the learning in terms of the advantages of Big Data along with the potential applications that it may have.
UBER makes use of a mechanism that is termed as real-time Big Data. There is a lot of real-time information that holds a significant place in the functioning of UBER. For instance, booking of the taxi is done as per the real-time location of the passenger and the driver along with the real-time availability as well. Therefore, real-time Big Data in collaboration with real-time Business Intelligence (BI) can be extremely useful for the business activities and applications[6].
Data analysis plays an important role in the functioning of the business organizations and the same is done through Big Data technologies. There is a lot of data and information that is associated with UBER. This data may comprise of varied data types and the sources of data will also be different from one another[7]. However, the application of Big Data allows automated analysis of the entire data sets to come up with trends, patterns, choices and preferences that assist in the improvement of the services that are provided.
Advantages of Big Data in UBER
Accuracy of the data is very important and there is a situation termed as data retention that was not known prior to the conduction of the research. Data is collected and stored on every day which adds up to the volume and variety of data[8]. However, with the passage of time, some of the data sets lose their value and it becomes necessary to remove such data sets from the data repositories. However, identification and removal of such data sets is not an easy process without the presence of Big Data. Big Data allows UBER and other business organizations to perform data retention to retrieve only the sets that are valuable and useful and discards the rest of them.
Big Data and its application in UBER also add up to the security of the same. It is because of the reason that there are several security attacks and concerns that are present in terms of information and data security. In case of UBER, if an attacker succeeds in obtaining the location of a taxi or a particular passenger in the particular taxi then the results may be fatal[9]. With the inclusion of Big Data, there are advanced security mechanisms that are applied to ensure that the data and information is always protected and kept secured.
Big Data is a buzzword in the present times; however, a little was known about the in-depth details of the technology prior to the research. The research enabled a deeper understanding on the topic and also added to the knowledge base.
The primary aim of the research was to understand the use and role of Big Data to UBER specifically in UK.
The research provided the understanding and knowledge and it was learnt that Big Data is essential for adequate management, handling, processing and storage of data.
It has therefore been decided and confirmed that Big Data shall be applied and recommended to the organizations as per their requirements. It has also been gained through the research that there are entities that have been adapting Big Data without a proper plan or an analysis of their needs and requirements. The decision to do so can lead to negative results as mere implementation of Big Data in the organization structure does not guarantee success. It is required for the users and organizations to understand their actual needs and requirements instead of deciding to go with the flow[10].
Results of Research on UBER
Also, security is one of the essential parameters in associated with data and information. Big Data and the technologies that come under it make use of advanced security mechanisms to make sure that data and information is always safe and protected. However, there are new security attacks and threats that are being created by the attackers and other malevolent entities. It is therefore necessary to ensure that the Big Data security is regularly upgraded and there are steps taken to maintain the security architecture at all times.
Conclusion
Big Data is a buzzword that has created a lot of stir in the business organizations in the modern times. UBER is an organization that provides taxi services to the people and is an organization that led to a disruptive innovation. Big Data has a great role to play in the success of UBER as it allowed the organization to adequately manage and handle the data and information that is associated with it[11]. With the growth and expansion of UBER, it became a matter of interest to research upon the methodologies and techniques that were used and applied by the company so as to achieve its objectives. The research had a positive impact as it allowed a deeper understanding of the research topic and also provided answers to many of the research questions. The research covered the impacts that UBER had on the competitors as it succeeded in achieving a competitive advantage among the traditional taxi service providers in the market. Big Data allows UBER and other business organizations to perform data retention to retrieve only the sets that are valuable and useful and discards the rest of them. It has also been gained through the research that there are entities that have been adapting Big Data without a proper plan or an analysis of their needs and requirements[12]. The decision to do so can lead to negative results as mere implementation of Big Data in the organization structure does not guarantee success.
References
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