Using Real-Time Analytics and Proxies to Collect Vital Data

You’ve likely heard about real-time analytics. It’s just as probable that you’re striving to understand precisely what it is and how you can use it for reliable data collection.

Combining web scraping with proxies and real-time big data analytics makes it possible to accomplish critical business tasks such as:

• Improving response time to challenges
• Reducing costs
• Tracking customer information
• Offering more personalized marketing to customers
• Achieving optimal cybersecurity

The process comes in handy for several other cases like personal browsing privacy, streaming, social media management, and gaming solutions.

The bottom line is that gaining the ability to analyze data quickly gives you a leg up on the competition. So let’s dig in as we explore the value of data collection, how to use it, and why real-time analytics is the best way to gain access to it.

What Is Real-Time Analytics?

Simply put, real-time data analytics allows you to query and process new information in “real-time” as the data comes in.

Processing new data immediately in this way means that you can gain more control over your company’s direction. In addition, it lets you trust new information right away so that you’re quickly making more informed decisions.

Breaking down the two terms inside “real-time analytics” helps us gain a complete understanding of this type of data collection.

Real-time: Operations become viewable and usable by users within milliseconds.

Analytics: Using multiple sources, analytics software pulls data into view for humans in a way that’s easily interpreted, analyzed, and acted upon.

Three examples of real-time web analytics include:

• Point-of-sale software detects fraud right away with it
• Customer relationship management software uses it to provide immediate customer insights
• Financial companies use it to provide instant credit scoring

On the other hand, batch-style analytics waits to formulate insights from the data processed. Unfortunately, many companies still use historical data that gets analyzed in batches even though our world operates in an “in demand” manner.

Customers expect instant results and answers. In order to compete, your business must work to transform its tracking systems over to using real-time analytics. This gives you a significant advantage because you can meet market changes as they happen, understand new customer trends, and pivot more quickly when current strategies prove ineffective.

Real-Time Data Analytics Benefits

Let’s explore in greater detail the specific reasons for putting real-time analytics into use.

Accurate information: Creating effective outcomes is the focus of real-time big data analytics. Instead of investing time, money, and other resources in collecting unnecessary data, you can set up campaigns that capture only required information.

Employ machine learning: Using the artificial intelligence inherent in machine learning means you’re able to discover data inferences and patterns far more quickly than any human can. You don’t need to update tedious algorithmic tasks anymore because AI does it for you.

Achieve improved decision making: Immediate access to data helps you make decisions confidently because you know that those decisions come off the heels of up-to-the-minute information streams. You’ll never feel the need to wait for additional data because you know you already have it.

Better testing: Big data real-time analytics lets you take more calculated risks. You can test a change in your marketing, for example, and understand quickly whether the new direction improved results or hurt profits. If you need to pivot back to the original data set, then you can do so immediately without experiencing much damage.

Gain a competitive advantage: Any competitors still using old, historical data won’t be able to keep up with you after you’ve converted to collecting and using real-time data.

Understand customer behavior: The lifeblood of any business is the ability to most effectively meet customer needs. Real-time web analytics create an environment where you constantly stay on top of any change in customer behavior.

Accessing Big Data Via Real-Time Web Scraping

Web scraping lets you automate the process of extracting, collecting, and organizing real-time data. 

No matter how much data is required, you can extract the data you need from any website. Some websites restrict copying and pasting from their pages. Web scraping allows you to extract and collect this data, too.

Let’s say that you want to collect competitor information from dozens of websites. Consider how long it would take you or an employee to copy and paste this data one website at a time. This is tedious and monotonous work that no human being enjoys working on. Even if you did try it, it’s impossible to collect data from hundreds of web pages in time to benefit from the information.

A web scraper bot goes out and scans all those pages for you. Not only that, but all that data comes back filed and organized inside a document, according to your preferences.

In order to make this process work most effectively, you must combine a web scraper with proxies.

Combining Real-Time Web Scraping With Proxies

A proxy in voting, for example, gives people the authority to represent others. A web-scraping proxy works similarly.

Proxies are third-party servers that let you use an IP address other than your own when using a web scraper. An IP address identifies who you are and where you’re located.

Web scrapers send requests to websites quickly. Most websites eventually pick up that these aren’t individual humans visiting and block the IP. So you need a proxy IP address to “represent” your interests whenever a website bans your web scraper from visiting again.

Proxies provide your web scraper with multiple IP addresses so that the scraper can quickly revisit sites it’s been banned from, using a different IP address. Websites never see your device’s true IP address since all communications between site and scraper are facilitated through a proxy IP address.

Different types of proxies exist. You can choose between static, rotating, data center, or residential proxies.

Static Proxies

A static proxy works best if you simply need one IP address that differs from your home’s IP address.

You might want to use it for privacy reasons, playing games, or watching movies. It anonymizes who you are and where you’re located because your IP address isn’t tied to all your personal information (like name and address) that sits within your Internet Service Provider account.

However, you’ll need several IP addresses when using web scraping for real-time analytics. That’s where rotating proxies come into play.

Rotating Proxies

Inevitably, one or more of your IP addresses will eventually get blocked as your web scraper goes out and does its job collecting data.

Rotating proxies provide you with several IP addresses so that a new one gets automatically switched over to the scraper whenever a preceding IP gets banned by a website you want to collect data on.

Data Center Proxies

These proxies typically exist in the cloud, originating from a data center. They aren’t affiliated with or connected to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This means that they aren’t attached to a physical location.

They’re often flagged as spam bots by websites during the real-time predictive analytics web scraping process. Using rotating data center proxies solves this problem because new IP addresses get switched in each time an IP address gets flagged.

Residential Proxies

Residential proxies originate from an IP address provided by an actual ISP. This means the IP address is tied to a real physical home address.

This type of proxy makes for the most secure web scraping project because it’s unlikely that they’ll ever become blocked by scraped websites.

A Quality Proxy Provider To Help Your Real-Time Analytics Project

At Rayobyte, we pride ourselves on providing the best proxies designed to help you run successful real-time data analytics campaigns.

We offer the fastest proxies, whether you need static, rotating, data center, or residential proxies. Use our proxies for any of the following reasons:

• Social media proxies
• SEO tools
• Security
• Large web scraping/data collection projects

We provide data center proxies in 13 countries such as the United States, Brazil, and Germany. Choose from 19 different U.S. cities that include:

• Dallas
• Los Angeles
• Buffalo
• NYC
• Chicago

We offer high-quality residential proxies provided by real people who are well-compensated in exchange for the use of their IP addresses. As a result, you’re purchasing proxies sourced through legal and ethical means so that you can use them for the strongest real-time analytics projects.

If you’re ready to use our data center proxies, then you can get started here.

Residential proxies offer you the highest quality when it comes to web scraping with proxies, and you can find our residential proxy options here.

Final Thoughts

Consider the benefits to real-time analytics we’ve discussed and ask yourself how much longer you can wait to start acting on this type of data collection.

Watch your business thrive once you’re moving past the competition with your ability to test more quickly, react to market changes instantly, and make good use of AI technology. You can feel confident in trusting the data that contributes to crucial company decisions.

We look forward to the opportunity to serve you with your proxy needs. Contact us now to get your high-quality proxies at fair and affordable prices.

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