Author, inventor and undersea explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke once said: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." While the field of data analytics has experienced some drastic changes over the last decade - in terms of variety, volume and velocity of information - industry experts argue that the analytics space still has some way to go before it can be likened to the level of enchanting innovation described above.
And the steward of this journey is the data scientist. Described by the Harvard Business Review as one of the sexiest jobs of the 21st century, a data scientist is an individual with the required skillset and mindset to discover the untold stories hidden in the world of big data. Data scientists have the expertise and knowhow to deploy and explore massive amounts of data in an agile and flexible manner, says Yigit Karabag, information management and analytics practice manager for SAS in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. "Companies should be recruiting this new breed of professionals. They're most definitely the key to innovation and are having a tangible impact on business and society." The emergence of an elaborate data community only serves to reinforce the value of these individuals and drive the demand for data scientists.
For Steven Ing, associate consultant at BSG, the key differentiator in today's ever-changing business landscape is the effective use of the talent and intelligence at your disposal. Acknowledging that the number-one focus area for technology spend globally is data and data analytics, he believes organisations should position these talented people to better tap into the potential of data as a strategic business asset. Given the current data-rich business landscape, Davide Hanan, MD of Qlikview South Africa, calls on organisations to not just rely on data experts, suggesting businesses educate as many people as possible - at all levels of the organisations - to work with data. By empowering all business users to create their own data apps and reports, the business is freeing up IT professionals to focus their attention on actually managing the data and keeping it secure.
Beyond manpower
But this is only a single piece of a very elaborate puzzle, notes Karabag. If you have the right people, but lack the necessary tools and information, you will fail to adequately benefit from the knowledge at your disposal, he continues. The same can be said for situations where organisations have the most elaborate technology but are unsure how to use it.
"Remember, regardless of how sophisticated your analytical models may be, they're not worth a dime unless the data they depend on is timely, accurate and trusted." The purpose of data analytics, and of big data analytics in particular, is to learn something new and unearth value hidden in massive volumes of seemingly unrelated data. "This means there has to be a lot more emphasis on exploratory analytics. Companies should not be afraid to allow for disruptive techniques that promote and help nourish innovation."
For Kelly Husband, product marketing manager for data platforms at Microsoft SA, data is becoming the new business currency. "Trending terms like big data, the Internet of Things and predictive analytics are all buzz words in the market, but the essence of what we're seeing is really the importance of data - existing data, new data, new insights from data, faster insights from data and predictive analysis of that data." Data growth is vastly outpacing business resources, available skills and IT budgets, which can hamper agility and an organisation's ability to remain relevant in this competitive landscape.
Hanan agrees. "Organisations are required to make faster decisions and analyse more data at a lower cost," he says, which sees traditional business intelligence being overtaken by data discovery and analysis. To try to compete without analytics in a world of analysis is becoming increasingly unthinkable, states Armand`e Kruger, regional sales director at PBT Group. "Data analytics is what will keep businesses in business. But for the data to add any sort of value, it needs to be managed - effectively." As such, he hazards against putting a generic analytics strategy in place before properly assessing if your organisation actually needs it. "Data analytics can be a vast benefit to an organisation; however, given the immense amount of information available to business, if not implemented correctly, it can become a costly white elephant."
Remember, regardless of how sophisticated your analytical models may be, they are not worth a dime unless the data they depend on is timely, accurate and trusted.
Yigit Karabag, SAS
Considering how quickly technology is evolving, Husband advises that businesses always plan with change in mind. Any data strategy investments must be hardwired to cater for future data requirements, whether it be data growth, new analytics requirements/projects or new data technologies. This involves investing in a platform, rather than a single solution and embracing converged services and technologies, she goes on to say.
In the world of business analytics and big data, success is mostly about innovation, highlights Karabag. Organisations should be looking at ways to create the kind of environment that fosters and promotes new ways of thinking and doing things. In the early days of US multinational General Electric, research labs saw all kinds of people working on problems of their choice. This strategy led to the development of countless inventions with practical applications, notes Karabag.
Really leveraging the right analytics strategy to learn more about your business is not that different. "I first need to discover a hidden gem, then scratch my head a bit thinking about what it could mean and then figure out a way to put it to use in order to give me some tangible benefit."
Say hello to the CDO
Last year, Gartner predicted that 25 percent of companies in heavily regulated sectors and government bodies will have appointed Chief Data Officers (CDOs) come 2017. The forecast was driven by the fact that businesses are generating, curating and utilising more sources and types of information than ever before. The position first emerged in the US and is starting to gain traction in Europe, but has yet to make any notable appearances in Asia or Africa. According to Bryan Balfe, enterprise account manager at CommVault, over the last few years, the role of the CIO has been to act as a bridge between business and traditional IT. But organisations are rapidly starting to realise that the data being created by business is both a huge asset and a huge risk, driving the need for a C-level executive with the knowledge and skills to manage all of this information. For the IT department, data is simply a storage issue, while business views the actual content as paramount. A CDO's role is to aid communication between different parties and to use the company's information to improve overall insight and competitiveness. "The CDO is tasked with aligning business and IT to better gauge what they're doing with data. With a mandate of incorporating IT infrastructures and bringing together legal and finance to discuss where the organisation is in terms of its data policies," he says.
Trending terms like big data, Internet of Things, predictive analytics are all buzz words in the market, but the essence of what we are seeing is really the importance of data.
Kelly Husband, Microsoft SA
Functioning as a peer to the CEO, CIO and CTO, the CDO's job is to make sure that the business is adhering to data legislation and compliance requirements and improving overall efficiency; while helping the business to derive value from their data assets, adds Balfe. "It is not a primarily technical role. Nor is it primarily an IT role. They actually become the custodian of the organisations data, but are also an enabler of investigations into areas that were previously not looked into and things that were not thought possible in the past." It is about engagement with different business units regarding what must be done and then facilitating that through the IT cycle, he notes.
The value of this individual is that they are tech savvy enough to understand technical discussions around implementations and restrictions but they also have to be worldly enough to understand the larger business environment.
Talking Thingalytics
In his book Thingalytics, Dr John Bates, Software AG's CTO for intelligent business operations and big data, mentions how 1962 cartoon The Jetsons gave the world its first glimpse at a "smart home"; complete with a robot housekeeper, a digital, interactive dinner menu, a conveyor belt to move the family around their house and robotic arms to brush your teeth. While most employees are not cleaning their teeth at work, this influx of information and heightened level of digital disruption due technological advancements is changing business processes like never before. The challenge is how to come up with innovative ways to take advantage of this business transformation.
For Bates the answer is "Thingalytics". A combination of "things" and "analytics", Thingalytics sees organisations utilising real-time analytics and algorithms to seize the opportunities presented by the Internet of Things (IoT). The idea is to combine analytics and algorithms to transform data into a valuable business asset; bringing together data from an ever increasing number of sources. "The IoT sensation is rapidly being embraced by entire societies around the globe, and holds the potential to empower and advance nearly each and every individual and business. This creates tremendous opportunity for enterprises to develop new services and products that will offer increased convenience and satisfaction to their consumers," says Riaaz Jeena sales director of Software AG South Africa. But organisations should be mindful of the risks, Jeena notes. "Any device with an operating system that connects to the Internet carries the potential of being compromised, in turn becoming a backdoor for attackers into the enterprise."
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