EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HOW CAN CIOS SUCCEED WITH PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS TOOLS IN AFRICA ?
Predictive analytics can help your organisation forecast future outcomes based on historical data and analytics techniques such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence . What is driving the surge in predictive analytics tools in Africa ? Industry pundits share insights with Intelligent CIO Africa on how CIOs on the continent can win with predictive analytics tools .
Analytics or predictive analytics is a category
of data analytics aimed at making predictions about future outcomes based on historical data and analytics techniques such as statistical modelling and Machine Learning .
The science of predictive analytics can generate future insights with a significant degree of precision . With the help of sophisticated predictive analytics tools and models , any organisation in Africa can now use past and current data to reliably forecast trends and behaviours milliseconds , days or years into the future .
According to MarketReasearch . com , the Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) Big Data , business intelligence and analytics market is projected to grow from US $ 5.09 billion in 2015 to US $ 12.38 billion by 2020 growing at a compound annual growth rate ( CAGR ) of 19.4 %.
The regional trend proves that both the government and the private sector are currently depending on numerous emerging IT technologies and solutions , such as Big Data , business intelligence and analytics
The science of predictive analytics can generate future insights with a significant degree of precision . to support infrastructural developments , improve healthcare services , efficiently manage available natural resources , and mitigate risks and disasters .
Ahmad Dorra , Customer Engagement Solutions Sales Leader – Middle East , Africa and Turkey , Avaya , said analytics plays an essential role in everything that organisations , of any kind , do .
“ It enables them to measure how their business is doing today , identify areas of enhancement related to their products , services and employees , as well as forecast what their customers will demand in the future ,” he said .
Feras Juma , IoT and Integration Solutions Manager , Software AG , said analytics across the whole spectrum ( visual , streaming and predictive ) has become a core requirement that the market is seeing many customer requests in 2020 .
Use cases
Dr Mohammad Mahmoud Hamdan , Associate Professor of Computer Sciences , School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences , Heriot-Watt University Dubai , said from a regional perspective , the GCC governments have already established bold plans to position themselves at the forefront of the digital revolution .
26 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com