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Race to transform Big Data into intelligence and profit intensifies across Middle East
Published Sep 29, 2013
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Big Data is rapidly moving from an abstract concept to become the core of business strategies across the Middle East, top IT leaders and industry experts agree.
The transition from a massively hyped buzzword to a pressing mainstream concern is forcing business-leaders to quickly adapt, with social interactions, mobile devices, facilities, equipment, R&D, simulations, and physical infrastructure all contributing to a profitable growth of Big Data.
According to IT-focused market intelligence firm IDC, over 40% of CIOs in the Middle East have reported that they are scoping investments in analytics and Big Data technologies in 2013. This represents a significant spike in interest. At a recent IDC summit of the Middle East region’s CIOs, just 12% claimed to have implemented analytics/Big Data technology projects in 2012.
IDC also found that 58% of CIOs believe that governance, regulation, compliance requirements and reporting, as well as a need for greater transparency, are forcing investments in Big Data and analytics technologies. As a result of this growing awareness, IDC says investments in business analytics solutions across the region are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 20% over the next five years.
Worldwide, IDC estimates that spending on Big Data technology and services will likely grow from USD3.2 billion in 2010 to USD16.9 billion in 2015, representing a CAGR of 40%, or about seven times that of the overall ICT market.
Emphatically responding to the region’s burgeoning Big Data challenge, GITEX Technology Week 2013 organiser Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is debuting its first ever Big Data Conference on October 22. The Big Data Conference features Accenture as a Diamond Sponsor.
Ronald Raffensperger, CTO at Huawei and a confirmed speaker for the Big Data Conference, said:
“Data volumes are growing at an exponential rate and increasingly this data is unstructured – everything from click streams to videos to pictures to social media feeds. Organisations today are starting to realise that this data can be an important revenue-producing asset and that the creative use of this information can provide a real competitive advantage if stored efficiently and secured effectively. Existing storage strategies are not well matched to the type and volume of big data information and, unless care is exercised, this critical business information will be subject to security risks that can have grave consequences for the enterprise. With IT applications now moving towards wholly-integrated storage, CPU, software, and networking-service packages, we look forward to this year’s GITEX Big Data Conference in previewing how different organisations across industries can create a competitive advantage through big data intelligence, and the tools and techniques which can ensure the security of this critical information.”
Fiona Moon, EMEA marketing director at leading data management and information management software company Commvault, said:
“Big Data, whether in one place or distributed, continues to be top of the agenda for CEOs and IT Directors alike. According to Gartner, 2012, only 26% of CIOs think they have effective tools and skill sets in place to manage these issues and to make data an asset to the organisation. Many choose to tackle huge volumes of data with traditional storage strategies and technologies but, in truth, a new approach is required. A revolution in data management needs to take place in order minimise the expensive heavy-lifting needed to protect and manage large volumes of data.”
“That same revolution can make data an asset that can add value to an organisation after it has been backed up or archived, unlike old fashioned approaches that treat separate archive and backup stores only as an ‘insurance policy’,” added Moon.
From a global perspective, IDC reports that the digital universe will have grown by a factor of 300 between 2005 and 2020. This equates to an increase from 130 exabytes to 40,000 exabytes or, in other words, 5,200 gigabytes for every human being. From now until 2020, the digital universe will virtually double every two years. The share of the digital universe held by emerging markets, including the Middle East, is currently on course to grow from 36% to 62% between 2012 and 2020.
Analytic solutions experts FICO Labs believes that such monumental data explosions are responsible for sales of global analytics software sales growing from USD 11 billion to USD 35 billion between 2000 and 2012.
And, by all accounts, the vast opportunities of transposing data into viable intelligence are only just beginning. IDC states that only a fraction of the digital universe has been explored but that by 2020 as much as 33% could contain valuable information if analysed. Accordingly, the Harvard Business Review recently proclaimed the role of data scientist as one of the 21st century’s most lucrative jobs.
Part of GITEX Technology Week’s GITEX Trends segment, the Big Data Conference is structured to help CIOs cope with the unending data deluge, arm their organisations with the wherewithal to mine it for strategic advantage and, crucially, alchemise what is ostensibly a big problem into a big business opportunity.
Key Big Data talking points include how CIOs and businesses are adapting, how to develop a winning strategy, ways to secure competitive advantage, how to gain insight from data, as well as pressing security and compliance issues.
Confirmed speakers to date include Regina Casonato, Managing VP, Gartner; Dr. Mustafa Qurban, Assistant Military Hospitals Director in Eastern Province for ICT and Consultant and Director IT at KFMMC; Zubair Ahmed, Head of IT & Business Innovation, Emirates Islamic Bank; Fadi Hindi, Vice President & Head of the Transformation Architecture Office, National Bank of Abu Dhabi; Abdulla Al Madani, Chief Executive Officer - Corporate Technical Support Services Sector, RTA; and Dr. Tolga Kurt, Istanbul Technical University, PlusOneMinusOne.
Massimo Cannizzo, Technology Consulting Lead for Accenture in the Middle East, said:
“Big Data is now critical to transforming businesses in the future. Companies that don’t incorporate Big Data into their IT strategy risk being left behind in growing their business, lacking deeper market insight already leveraged by competitors, and in this growing market this is not an option. Accenture, with global expertise in Big Data technologies, will continue to provide its clients with advanced insights into Big Data to transform their business operations, and we are delighted for the opportunity to share our experience and thought-leadership at the GITEX Big Data Conference.”
Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President at Dubai World Trade Centre, said.
“Businesses and organisations that are not harnessing Big Data to reinvent the way they operate will clearly miss out on both innovation and profit.”
“GITEX Technology Week’s Big Data Conference is a concise, extremely powerful examination of latest developments and challenges. Featuring leading experts, analysts and businesses, this is our most focused look yet at how Big Data is making waves, and we look forward to an action-packed day of lively debate, illuminating insight and constructive troubleshooting.”
Running under the theme “Lets Create, Disrupt and Re-imagine Together”, the 33rd edition of GITEX Technology Week 2013 runs from October 20-24 at DWTC.
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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