( CNN ) -- When Billy Beane , the subject of the 2004 book 'Moneyball ' , took over as the general manager of the Oakland Athletics in the late 1990s , he revolutionized the way baseball teams were run . At a time when other managers and scouts relied on their experience to identify promising new players , Beane successfully used 'sabermetrics ' -- the statistical analysis of baseball -- to see value in players other teams had passed over , turning the Athletics into a team capable of competing with the biggest names in the sport . Now industry watchers say a similar statistics revolution is going on in the business world . Technological advances are giving rise to huge amounts of data -- about consumers , supply chains and world events -- that businesses can use to make better decisions and gain a competitive edge . It 's called 'big data analytics ' , and those who ignore it are being warned they risk being left behind . Watch : Funding 80 start-ups at once . The rise of big data . `` Big data is the new oil , '' says Andy Cutler , director of strategy at SAS , a consulting firm specializing in big data analytics . `` The folks who are going to get good value are those who are going to be able to refine it and turn it into useful products . '' Firms like Amazon and Netflix are at the forefront of this revolution , gathering the huge amounts of data generated by their customers and analyzing it to predict what customers will want to buy or watch in the future . This goes beyond personalized purchase suggestions ; Amazon is currently working on technology that will deliver products to you before you 've even ordered them , or at least keep them in warehouses nearby in anticipation , says Phil Simon , author of `` Too Big to Ignore : The Business Case for Big Data . '' Netflix has effectively built its entire business model on analyzing customer data , he says . `` Netflix track every view , every click , all in an attempt to understand what their customers want . '' The development of smartphone technologies and near-field communication means analyzing customer data is no longer limited to the online world . Tailored buying experience . Arne Strauss , analytics professor at the Warwick Business School , says retailers are developing ways of monitoring customers as they enter physical stores , allowing them to optimize store layout and even change on-shelf promotions depending on which customer is walking by . But predicting customer behavior is just one application . Major banks including HSBC use big data to monitor and predict fraud -- both by cardholders and staff -- by setting up data-mining systems that collect patterns and look for anomalies . The investment bank Morgan Stanley uses statistical models to measure the impact market events have on the bank in real time . Improving the efficiency of large logistical operations is another use . Delivery firm UPS spends more than $ 1bn a year gathering data from its fleet of trucks to ensure the most efficient delivery routes . Meanwhile major supermarkets in the UK are turning to big data analytics to help them provide same-day grocery delivery services -- a huge logistical challenge involving predicting what customers are likely to want before they order it , and ensuring coordinated delivery times that protect supermarkets ' already-thin profit margins . Consultants and academics say businesses who do n't jump on the big data bandwagon are at risk of falling behind . But there are challenges . Too much information ? Some in the industry fear a backlash from consumers uncomfortable with the amount of individual data being gathered about them , stifling development in some areas . The speed of the technological development has also created a skills gap . Professor Thierry Chaussalet , who runs a business intelligence and analytics masters course at the University of Westminster in London , says many businesses simply do n't understand the big data technology now available and what it has to offer . Stephen Mills , an associate partner in big data analytics at IBM , agrees there needs to be a culture change . `` The technology is the easy bit , '' he says . `` The hard part is how to change the culture and the business processes to make use of that new source of data . '' The books that changed the world 's best business brains . Technology gets a makeover as fashion goes futuristic . How to master Mobile advertising .
Big data deemed as the 'new oil ' according to experts . Comment: Amazon and Netflix are leading the big data revolution , analyzing customer data to predict what they 'll want to buy in the future .