In the information era, enormous amounts of data have become
available on hand to decision makers. Big data refers to datasets that are not
only big, but also high in variety and velocity, which makes them difficult to
handle using traditional tools and techniques. Due to the rapid growth of such
data, solutions need to be studied and provided in order to handle and extract
value and knowledge from these datasets. Furthermore, decision makers need
to be able to gain valuable insights from such varied and rapidly changing data,
ranging from daily transactions to customer interactions and social network data. Such value can be provided using big data analytics, which is the application
of advanced analytics techniques on big data. This paper aims to analyze some
of the different analytics methods and tools which can be applied to big data, as
well as the opportunities provided by the application of big data analytics in
various decision domains.