Big data analytics are helping organizations connect their data and use it to identify new opportunities. Big data analytics examines large amounts of data to uncover hidden patterns, correlations and other insights. Here are some sectors where big data are making an impressive impact-: 

# 1. Healthcare 

Big Data Analytics in the healthcare sector helps patients and the healthcare ecosystem to be aware of the appropriate treatments and measures to be taken.

#2. Retail

In the retail sector, analytic solution offers insights to understand and respond to changing customer experience.

#3. Banking

The financial sector has to deal with vast volumes of data. This sector poses higher vulnerabilities to fraud and financial crimes.

#4. Manufacturing

In manufacturing, operations managers can use advanced analytics to dig historical data to study and improve production.

To know more, please read the article by Arya MM (Writer at infotechlead) -: http://www.infotechlead.com/big-data-2/biz-booms-investment-big-data-analytics-38700

Microfinance companies are financial institutions that provide banking services to low-income groups or individuals. The concept was first developed by Bangladeshi economist Professor Muhammad Yunus. Microfinance companies can be widely found in developing countries as many regions of these countries lack access to mainstream banking services. It has witnessed widespread success in developing countries and won praises from many. But there exists ethical issues with microfinance companies. Though they provide the poor with funds to escape poverty, it burdens the vulnerable section with debt. Profiteering in the sector has also been reported. Thus there is a need for increased regulations to ensure transparency in the operation of microfinance companies. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/the-growth-of-microfinance-companies

The use of electronic cash is gaining popularity. Particularly the use of electronic cash transfer through cellular services is increasing rapidly in the developing world. It is estimated that electronic currency system will improve lives of more than 2 billion people, who live on less than 2 dollars per day. Use of electronic transaction system will facilitate more secure, accessible, and reliable ways to store and transfer money than are currently available. The most important thing in this context is the role of agents conducting cash for electronic value and vice-versa. By developing such a network a robust and efficient banking system can be developed. To know more read: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2549171

“#”

Most of you must be familiar with this symbol – Hashtag. It is usually used to classify tweets. This classification is being used by banks to provide services these days in the form of Hashtag Banking.

“Hashtag banking or twitter banking is a method of providing banking services such as fund transfer, balance enquiry etc. as well as giving banking information using hashtag (#)”

The following article by Vivina Vishwanathan at livemint.com explains the concept of hashtag banking. In this article, she explains with an example that how # banking works. Since this is still in its initial stage, there are a lot of doubts regarding it like its safety, technical glitches etc.

Whatever its future, it will be decided on the basis of how banks develop this service and earn people’s trust regarding it.

To know more, please visit the following link:

http://www.livemint.com/Money/PaklJWALLp7ttemZp9oleL/One-minute-guide-hashtag-banking.html

•  Adoption of digital technologies has led to a customer-centric set of services. These technologies are nowadays demanded by banks, financial services firms and insurance companies.   With the world becoming competitive, sectors such as banking, finance services and insurance industries and product development, delivery and customer engagement are now being driven by a more mobile, social and data driven experience. But, the financial industry is still way behind firms in the consumer and retail markets. Firms in financial industry must ensure that they build a foundation for digital change. Read more at:   http://blogs.sap.com/banking/2015/05/19/digital-innovation-in-banking/

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, to date there have been more than 778 million records exposed in thousands of data breaches. 

One of the foremost technology solutions for addressing the financial security concerns is Biometrics. Its application in the Banking and Financial Services industry is projected to increase to $8 billion by year 2020. This is largely due to less reliability of traditional authentication systems. Investing in biometrics is also seen as a lucrative opportunity today as banks and financial institutions all over the world want to implement it in their security systems as soon as possible.

To sum up, Biometrics in banking industry is now quickly evolving into a global standard. Read the following Investopedia article to increase your knowledge about this opportunity:

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/042015/biometric-banking-huge-prospects-tech-profits.asp