Big data to have major influence on Middle East

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GITEX Technology Week's inaugural Big Data Conference brings together industry experts

 

GITEX Technology Week's inaugural Big Data Conference has brought together industry experts and decision makers to shine a light on the importance of Big Data and its future impact on the IT landscape.

The conference, supported by Diamond Sponsor Accenture, heard from leaders in the ICT field on how new technologies and new sources of data such as social media and machine data are converging to deliver vital business intelligence and predictive capabilities and to present a major opportunity for the IT industry. Gartner estimates spending on Big Data reached $24 billion in 2012, but this is set to increase to $230 billion by 2014, creating a huge opportunity for software and services.

Keynote speaker Volkmar Koch, Vice President and Partner at leading global management consulting firm Booz & Co, set the scene: "The sheer volume of structured and unstructured data driven by digitisation is calling for a host of new coping techniques, methods and analytics to effectively process and leverage."

Speaking to GITEX Times, Massimo Cannizo, Technology Consulting Lead, Accenture Middle East, says that Big Data represents a huge opportunity, particularly for the Gulf region. "Big Data is not an optional decision. If your aim is to compete, be innovative and to retain your customers, the most important thing is to build the technology to co-operate in this new internet economy."

Regina Casonato, Managing Vice President, Gartner Research, another speaker at the conference, continued: "Big data is a mind shift. It demands you think outside of the box, go outside of the comfort zone, the opportunity is there. There is much more than you can imagine using a traditional approach."