Simply put, it is about collection of data from various devices (different types, different protocols, different complexity, etc) in real-time and aggregating and processing this incoming stream of data to provide useful information. This can enormously improve efficency and make the business stand out. Presently businesses may be implementing custom solutions for addressing such data handling and analysing scenarios.
This is going to get more streamlined, easy and cost-effective using the recently introduced Azure Stream Analytics. Azure Stream analytics has all the well known advantages of Azure Cloud; fully managed; real-time stream computation; highly resilient; and easy to implement and easy to get started. It can, not only help larger corporations who want to dissociate themselves from custom solutions but also help small businesses who cannot afford a custom solution.