In business, data is everything.
Without accurate and timely data, it’s difficult to make informed decisions that can help your company grow.
However, not all data is created equal. There are two main types of data:
Understanding the differences between these two types is critical for business owners who want to make the most of their data. This week, we’ll break down structured data and explain how it can benefit your business.
What Is Structured Data?
Structured data is a type of data that is arranged in a structured, systematic way. This means that it is organized according to certain rules or conventions and that it can be easily accessed and used by computer systems.
Structured data includes things like structured databases, XML files, and datasets from scientific studies.
While structured data has many applications in business and other fields, it is especially useful for tasks like analyzing trends or making predictions based on large datasets.
Its main advantage lies in its ability to be quickly parsed and analyzed by computers. Overall, structured data represents an important tool for unlocking the power of big data in today’s digital age.
Benefits of Structured Data
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Easily used by business users: By using structured data in their systems and databases, businesses can more easily extract important insights and trends from the huge volume of information they collect.
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Easily used by ML algorithms: Because structured data can be managed and manipulated with software tools, it is ideal for machine learning applications and other tasks that require large amounts of data processing.
Disadvantages of Structured Data
While structured data offers many benefits, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider.
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Specific purpose usage: Structured data with pre-defined rules may only be utilized for its intended purpose, restricting various commercial use-cases.
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Limited storage options: Structured data is often kept in relational databases or data warehouses, both of which have fairly strict forms. If you need to make changes to your records, you must update all of the structured data.
Structured Data vs. Unstructured Data