We’ve been reading and talking a lot about data in our most recent digital communications studies. They’re calling it Big Data now, mainly because there is so much of it to analyze and so many different ways to do it. But no matter who’s crunching the numbers, the end goal is always the same. WIN! WIN! WIN!

Take The University of Georgia football program. They have begun tracking  and analyzing all aspects of their athletes physical performance. We’re not talking yards rushed and passes completed here. What coaches and trainers are looking at is the player’s the physiological information – heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, how much a player moving and running – all tracked with a combination of GPS and medical monitoring technology. The goal: To know how a player is doing physically and when they should be seeking the services of trainers and medical professionals to address issues they may not even know exist.

Crunching the numbers has always been a big part of baseball. But in today’s digital world, teams across the country, the Detroit Tigers for one, are digging even deeper by adding data analytics who are tracking all aspects of the team operation – both on and off the field.

This week IBM launched the Watson Trend APP, intended to help holiday shoppers stay ahead of the pack. By pulling information from thousands of sources like blogs social media, e-commerce and review sites to provide a real-time list of the 100 top products in multiple categories.

Big Data is also making it’s mark in campaign politics. While the 2008 Obama Presidential run is often credited as the first campaign to effectively mobilize and capitalize on a concerted digital effort, the 2016 presidential campaign is the first to be heavily influenced by the analysis of big data. The campaigns with limited analytics resources will be too far  behind to compete in this digital age.

So whether it’s sports, business or politics the game is definitely changing. The winners aren’t the ones gathering the most data. That’s just half the battle. Rather, those enjoying the spoils will be those who embrace the role of analytics and invest in the human resources and powerful technology it will take to turn information into winning results.