If you're not using big data, you're about to fail fast

'Data is not about insights, it's about generating money,' says Rubikloud's chief product officer Ever since the financial crash of 2008, businesses around the world have struggled to grow at the same levels they once enjoyed – but big data and machine learning could help turn things around, and help companies reconnect with customers. "The reality now is this plateaued, zero-growth type of world, where you're in the 0.5-1 per cent [range]," Ayoub said, speaking at WIRED Retail 2016. There's a lot of companies that do more small scale retail that are seeing enormous amounts of growth but in general, this is the kind of climate we're living in." Ayoub isn't concerned so much with why this is happening, but rather how retailers are reacting to the change. One way businesses have tried to keep their costs down is by consolidating, then leveraging greater purchasing power to buy stock at lower prices. "Big fish buy big fish, then bigger fish buy them," said Ayoub. "That allows them to pressure vendors to push down prices.