What is Unstructured Data?

Unstructured data or information can be referred as an unorganized pattern of the information that does not have any pre- defined data model or not structured in a pre- defined manner. Unstructured information is typically text- heavy, and may consist of data like numerals, dates and facts. It originates the chances of ambiguity and irregularity in the data pattern.

Unstructured Data is a generic label for defining any data, which does not exist in any kind of database or data structure. It can be textual or non- textual. Textual unstructured data is generated in media like word documents, email messages, presentation files, business collaboration software and instant messages. While, the non textual unstructured data is generated in media like mp3 audio files, JPEG images and flash video files. In customer facing industries, the information contained in unstructured data can be analyzed to improve the customer relationship and marketing. As per the research conducted by IDC Enterprise Disk Storage Consumption Model and EMC project, released in 2009 that data will grow to 40 zettabytes by 2020, resulting in a 50 fold growth from the beginning of 2010.