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Vytautas Kirjazovas
The internet is the primary source of big data. Already, switched-on companies’ policies rely on insights acquired from this source. Recent projections by Statista predicts the big data market’s on-going yearly revenue growth, almost doubling from current 49 to 103 billion U.S dollars by 2027. This further proves the direction of foreseeable business culture for those companies that are not acquainted with being data-driven.
However, the web is an insightful but complex source of knowledge. Some data-wealthy websites require advanced technical knowledge to gain access, while others add additional steps that mess up any data-gathering operation. That is why many businesses look for adaptable solutions to gather public data from the web at scale and do so in real-time.
According to our annual data collection report ”The Rising Demand for Data: Oxylabs’ 2020”, our solution called Real-Time Crawler in 2019, recorded an overwhelming 97.6% request growth when extracting public intelligence from the web, compared to 2018 metrics.
Real-Time Crawler keeps pushing boundaries of what our clients thought was possible in terms of accessing real-time web data at magnifying scale, in their respective fields
Mr. Aleksandras Sulzenko, Product Owner at Oxylabs.
But, what web data is all about? Well, many e-commerce businesses are already extracting and analyzing data on pricing intelligence, seasonal trends, or product categories from direct competition websites or online marketplaces. Accordingly, their websites always have the best deals and prices, winning the customer.
Or, take the go-to source for answers on how the world of business is moving – search engines. Companies harness the presented quintessential intelligence from simple search queries, volumes, or keyword rankings. Analyzed data from search engines is behind their digital marketing strategies, allowing them to capture the target audience’s attention effortlessly.
Essentially, it would be a real challenge to find any company that would doubt the value of data. As evidenced by recent NewVantage Partners’ annual Big Data Executive Survey findings that 92% of leading companies’ C-level executives are increasing the pace of their big data investments. More interestingly, the Fortune 1000 business-decision makers are citing the fear of disruption from data-driven digital competitors as the main factor.
Rightly so, as times indeed have changed in data-gathering procedures. Unfortunately, not everyone is caught up with being data-driven. Mainly due to old and incorrect perceptions of technical or financial hurdles limiting their access to external business intelligence.
It is accurately portrayed by Syncsort’s 2019 Data Trends survey that explored 230 IT-related professionals’ responses that identified a struggle to make data accessible, citing challenges as skills/staff shortage (38%), and budget constraints (30%).
Nevertheless, in the age of data, businesses simply can’t ignore betting on data-backed decisions. Hence, it’s paramount to find a cost-effective solution to external business intelligence, and by doing so, strengthen the overall market position.
Historically, businesses used two well-known methods to gain access to web data. Firstly, building in-house data gathering mechanisms. This routine might seem like an ideal path to access data on demand. By doing so, companies can set it up to work as per business’ needs and wants. However, it is nothing more than an uphill battle to make everything work as expected.
It calls for a full-time team of developers to build web scrapers and demands expensive hardware to operate effectively. When the scope of data operation increases, expect for the web scraper itself to wobble. Complex websites’ layouts along the way will request adaptation, resulting in costly timing expenses. What is worse, the data gathering process itself can easily distract focus from the core business’ operations.
Another solution is to outsource intelligence from data vendors directly. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most straightforward ways to access the required knowledge. However, not many think about the actual value they receive when obtaining intelligence via this method. The truth is that direct competition can approach “data dealers” and access the same knowledge, which consequently, diminishes the value due to the faded exclusivity factor.
Of course, for the right price, it is possible to buy a combination of business intelligence and exclusivity. But, how many businesses can afford that hefty price tag?
Rather than focusing on challenging data-gathering procedures or spending a significant amount of money to gain the business intelligence in the first place, instead, you could outsource a highly customizable Real-Time Crawler solution. Our solution is already trusted by the biggest brands out there, and in fact, accumulates substantial cost savings when gathering external data at scale.
That being said, Oxylabs is already offering cost-effective solutions that challenge old fashioned ways of collecting external business intelligence. Such as already mentioned Oxylabs’ Real-Time Crawler, which excels in effortlessly capturing web data in a hassle-free manner. Be it online marketplaces, e-commerce sites, search engines, or any URL in general.
Our main goal was to eliminate technically challenging, time-consuming, and expensive procedures to access real-time intelligence on demand, for any business small and big alike. To use Real-Time Crawler, you just have to tell us which data you want to extract, and we’ll do the rest, delivering 100% accurate analysis-ready data.
Ultimately, it is the knowledge that sharpens businesses’ competitive edges. In the data-gathering market, false beliefs of daunting technical and financial challenges limit many companies to unlock their true potential.
Many market players still need to break free from their perception traps. They must harness actionable insights from the most significant big data source known to humankind, and consequently, benefit consumers in the best products and services, at the best price
So, for companies that rely on web scraping in their daily operations and for businesses that are looking to kickstart the external business intelligence hunt, why don’t check out Oxylabs’ Real-Time Crawler in action by creating your very own Oxylabs’ account.
Please note that when signing up on behalf of the company, you will be eligible for a 7-day free trial. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to witness how Real-Time Crawler can effortlessly aid your external data-gathering procedures while keeping costs at the minimum.
About the author
Vytautas Kirjazovas
Head of PR
Vytautas Kirjazovas is Head of PR at Oxylabs, and he places a strong personal interest in technology due to its magnifying potential to make everyday business processes easier and more efficient. Vytautas is fascinated by new digital tools and approaches, in particular, for web data harvesting purposes, so feel free to drop him a message if you have any questions on this topic. He appreciates a tasty meal, enjoys traveling and writing about himself in the third person.
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2024-12-09
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