For individuals and business owners alike, the way data has been dealt with, especially with the advent of computers, is through two forms – structured and unstructured data. Structured data can take the form of databases and spreadsheets delineating names and figures in columns with headers. Unstructured data, as the name implies, holds data in undefined structures including emails, social media posts, PowerPoint presentations and text messages.

With artificial intelligence’s capabilities increasing and the amount of data created every day growing, how can businesses analyze both types of data and use it to their advantage?

Considerations for Structured and Unstructured Data

While structured data is readily available to be manipulated by humans, increasing amounts of unstructured data is not. Projected to keep growing, it’s unrealistic for humans to comb through the 2.5 quintillion bytes of computer data generated every day on the Internet, according to IBM. A quintillion, for comparison against a million or billion, is 1 followed by 18 zeros.

Whether it’s weather data, videos, photos or text generated on social media, websites or forums, digital invoices or mobile data points, the amount of information on the Internet needs a way to be collected and organized for organizations and individuals to process, analyze and act upon it for their business decisions.

How Unstructured Data is Analyzed

With artificial intelligence, unstructured data can be analyzed with algorithms. An email is a good example of how structured and unstructured data is created. It can start off with the top of the message and include the text inside the email. The structured data takes the form of the “To,” “From” and “Subject” lines. The unstructured data takes the form of the unique message written in the body of the email.

With the help of algorithms, language can be analyzed to determine what adjectives are contained and what they mean. If words such as “poor” and “service” are found, it may be able to determine how many customers are not satisfied with their service experience.

Potential Uses of Big Data for Business Purposes

Artificial intelligence has the ability to look at photos, sense location through GPS and compile social media data, which could include existing or potential customers. This offers the potential to compile demographics on where marketing efforts should be increased or decreased depending on the data results. Businesses could also use big data to analyze delivery efficiency whether they are shipping manufactured goods or a delivery service. By gauging weather, traffic, accidents, price and on-time performance data from multiple data sources, companies can analyze the most efficient shipping options.

Considerations to Make Before Aggregating and Using Big Data

While the risk of a data breach already exists, the increase of data creation and aggregation only increases the risk of data violations and misuse. Moreover, data should be anonymized by removing identifying markers such as age, gender or race, so that employees do not intentionally or even unintentionally make unethical or illegal decisions when it comes to hiring or lending. It’s also important to evaluate data integrity and the accuracy of the algorithms performing the analysis.

As more and more data is created, the ability for businesses to analyze and act upon it for future decisions increases. However, only the future will tell how extensively businesses can make sense of their structured and unstructured data.

Financial planning can be intimidating, but personal financial planning is more like a puzzle you have to work out. That’s because traditional finance assumes that markets are rational and that market participants always make unbiased decisions. Life doesn’t work that way, and neither does financial management.

The reality is that every individual is a confluence of biases, emotions, influences and experiences – and all of those factors impact how we view the world and manage our own money. That’s why some people are risk-takers while others are ultra conservative. So it’s not enough to understand financial markets and products, you must also understand your own emotional processes, mental mistakes and individual personality traits as well as how they affect your decisions.

The factors that influence our financial decisions ultimately create the inefficiencies, anomalies and other inconsistencies that impact the financial markets and the economy. To help you gain insight into how your thoughts and actions affect your finances, consult with a financial advisor to help you understand how your personality traits, demographic and socioeconomic factors, household characteristics, cognitive and emotional biases, political viewpoints, and even religion might affect your financial decisions.

There are a few general steps that an advisor can walk you through to develop a plan to help withstand the force of your own personality from making irrational financial decisions. For example, during peaceful market periods, discuss what individual strategies should be followed when the financial climate becomes volatile.

According to Victor Ricciardi, a behavioral finance and risk expert, the following are five things you should understand about your own investor behavior:

1. Over- and under-confidence are two factors that can lead to portfolio underperformance.
2. Mental accounting is when you focus on the detriment or attributes of a single holding, rather than viewing it within the context of your total, diversified portfolio.
3. Lack of self-control can lead us to spend money on vacations today that we could take when we’re in retirement – with no specific date to return to work.
4. Anchoring bias is when an investor places too much value on the first piece of information that led him to invest in a holding and is unable to accept or process new information as it relates to that holding.
5. Trust and control – when working with a financial advisor, you must exhibit both. Trust his or her judgement but do not relinquish so much control that you place your financial future at risk.

Although behavioral finance is a relatively new concept, experts in the field agree that its tenets go a long way toward explaining why the markets frequently behave in an irrational manner, and how people can impact volatile performance. In other words, it pays to pay attention to how your behavioral biases, emotions and mental processes can affect your own financial decisions. Once you achieve this understanding, you can embark upon some very personal financial planning.

If the Pew Research Center’s findings from its Mobile Technology Fact Sheet are any indication of mobile device usage, your business should consider developing a mobile app.

With nine in 10 Americans using a cellphone and 64 percent of the U.S. population possessing a smartphone, there is an ample audience out there for you to reach using a mobile app. One important finding from the Pew Research Center is that 67 percent of cellphone owners monitor their phone for a call or notification, even when their phone is silent. So what considerations should be made to determine if a mobile app is right for your business?

Increase Awareness Among Clients

Whether smartphone users own an iOS or an Android device, they spend an average of 162 minutes on their mobile device per day, according to GeekWire. Of that time, they spend 86 percent of that on an app. Apps are fully customizable and can make access to information such as booking options, search options, service and price guides much easier and faster for clients to review.

Increase Customer Outreach and Survey Methods

Many of today’s mobile apps integrate social media and forums. Internal forums can give customers a bit more privacy while still interacting with other clients and internal staff. Social media, such as Twitter, can also be integrated into an app. This is useful to help customers give feedback and even create keyword-based campaigns through hashtags that are searchable on Twitter.

Engage Local and Visiting Customers

Through location-based marketing, businesses can use their app to target and alert customers within a defined geography for nearby events or holidays. Apps can be used to upsell and notify customers of additional products or services when they book an appointment or research a complimentary product or service. Apps also can measure the effectiveness of specific promotions and coupons, and alert businesses to existing customers and pull their purchase history.

Considerations Before and During the Mobile App Development

Depending on the size of the organization, the first step is to determine if your existing IT staff can devote time away from security and other important matters. Beyond that, you must consider functionality such as messaging and scheduling. What platforms will it be developed for – only iOS and Android, or Blackberry and Windows, too? Is the app functional online, offline or both? These are just some factors that must be determined before an app can be released to the public, and should be tested in Beta versions in house or through test groups.

Testing is just as important for mobile app functioning as it is for mobile and desktop friendly content. You can beta test with internal staff, external developers, test groups or a combination thereof. This is a critical phase of development, because if consumers find it does not function well, it will hinder the app’s chances of widespread adoption.

Considerations if a Mobile App is Not Right

If a mobile application is not right, another option is to create mobile friendly websites. This may help companies rank higher in Google and enable exposure to the mobile device market in lieu of a full-blown app. Whether a company chooses to create an app based on its clientele, budget, or marketing and outreach basis, many experts believe it is definitely worth taking a look at the mobile device market’s adoption rate – which shows no sign of slowing down.

Marketing to consumers born between 1946 and 1964, otherwise known as Baby Boomers, can be a boon or a bust. Once a target demographic, technology has naturally led to businesses targeting younger generations, including Millennials. However, there is still plenty of marketing and business opportunity that companies can accomplish with the Baby Boomer generation.

Numbering around 77 million, the Baby Boomer generation accounts for almost one in four of the country’s population, and businesses can still look forward to competing for their $2.4 trillion of spending power. So how can businesses effectively target this demographic?

Internet Based Marketing

To begin with, the Baby Boomer population prefers to use laptops to shop – rather than smartphones or tablets.

Creating Content for Baby Boomers

As the old saying goes “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” As more and more Baby Boomers embrace new technology, they continue to appreciate familiarity.

• Stick to full, traditional language to communicate with Baby Boomers on your website and through social media. While virtually all Millennials are fluent with texting language, such as using u for you or lol for laughing out loud, Baby Boomers prefer natural language because many are not familiar with the lingo.
• Generally speaking, when Baby Boomers are looking online to research or buy from a business, they are not interested in current popular culture. Instead, when social media and web copy is meant to target Baby Boomers, make it relevant to their most memorable moments of pop culture.
• Like offline relationships, giving Baby Boomers attentive service online and through social media is essential to create trust with this demographic. Though this trust doesn’t come overnight, once it’s established, Baby Boomers are loyal.
• Use one social media platform and build on it. While Baby Boomers are active on social media, they are not as active as younger generations. For example, a platform like Facebook might be more popular with this generation than a newer platform such as Instagram. However, the more popular platform, in this case Facebook, can introduce users to new platforms, such as Twitter or Instagram (or existing users can connect with just a click).

Make it Useful and Relevant

Baby Boomers are no different than any other generation in the “what’s in it for me” respect. Baby Boomers are discerning consumers and want to see a product’s value to themselves and their family. Unlike marketing to younger generations by saying “you need to check this out,” Baby Boomers respond better to substantive posts that are informative, giving them practical knowledge and helping them learn and develop new skills.

Honesty and Open Communication is Key

Baby Boomers like to have many options to communicate when they’re online. Along with customer service e-mail addresses and social media links easily discoverable on digital and hard copy marketing materials, they appreciate the option to speak with a live customer service agent. Whether it’s a product question or simply to order, having the ability to have a conversation via phone and online is essential.

If you’d like to collect their personal information, make sure you notify them and get their permission first. Whether it’s for internal or third-party marketing use, even if the law already gives you permission to use it, informing them and getting their consent will go a long way in building trust and confidence with the Baby Boomer demographic.