Gitex Day 3 Drives Big Data’s Bigger Adoption

With a focus towards delivering the new RoI, Gitex 2013 has put a lot of emphasis towards big data adoption in the region.

We all know that big data has great potential especially for the enterprise market and has been dominating the conversation in recent years. But whilst the technology to harness it has already come of age, enterprises in different segments are still only scratching its surface and unsure of how to maximize its demonstrable value. Gitex, Big Data Summit was designed to help CIOs prepare for this data deluge, arm their organisations with technology, systems and processes to optimize information for strategic insight, and turn big data from a big problem into a big business opportunity. There are some great insights that have been given during this summit.

The packed Conference, supported by Diamond Sponsor Accenture, offered valuable insights on how Big Data increasingly becomes an unavoidable and compelling item at the top of the boardroom agenda. The 33rd edition of GITEX Technology Week 2013, running under the theme “Lets Create, Disrupt and Re-imagine Together”, runs until October 24 at Dubai World Trade Centre.

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.About 2.9 million emails are sent every second, 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and by the end of 2013 there will be more networked devices than people on earth. Data has now unavoidably become a topic in the boardroom, with senior executives increasingly understanding the value of data to transform their businesses and to enter into new value pools.”

One of the conference’s many highlights was a memorable keynote address by the Rt. Hon. Francis Maude, Minister for the UK Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, who explained how Big Data had transformed the policy and work of his department.

There are strong indications that Big Data competency is likely to rapidly rise in the Middle East — with the rate of CIOs looking into investing in analytics and big data technologies growing more than tripling from only 12%in 2012 to more than 40%in 2013, according to intelligence firm IDC.

Conference speaker Ronald Raffensperger, CTO at Huawei, 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

Additional Big Data Conference speakers included Massimo Cannizo, Technology Consulting Lead, Accenture Middle East; Allen Mitchell, Regional Pre-Sales Manager, Commvault MEA; 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.

Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President at Dubai World Trade Centre, said: “By hosting our first-ever Big Data Conference, GITEX Technology Week continues to drive thought leadership in the region. We saw incredible synergy between leading experts, analysts, and senior executives, and expect the fruits of this conference to be incredibly beneficial for the region’s businesses over the next year.”