This document discusses the rise of big data and its impact on the translation industry. It notes that the amount of digital data is growing rapidly and will be four times the amount of grains of sand on Earth by 2020. With more of the world's population online, most online consumers cannot access content in their own language, so translation into other languages is necessary to tap into the global online spending potential of $50 trillion. Big data offers companies a competitive advantage by enabling more customized products and services through deeper analysis of customer behavior and preferences. However, human translators can only manage 2500-3000 words per day, so cloud-based translation platforms are emerging to help companies scale translation and leverage insights from big data analysis.