EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
WHAT DO CIOS HAVE TO CONSIDER WHEN IMPLEMENTING BUSINESS ANALYTICS ?
Data-driven companies treat their data as a corporate asset and actively look for ways to turn it into a competitive advantage . The success of business analytics largely depends on data quality and skilled analysts who understand the technologies and the business , and an organisational commitment to using data to gain insights that inform business decisions . data visualisation to extract meaningful insights needed to make informed business decisions . “ Business analytics is an indispensable tool in today ’ s highly competitive marketplace . Companies across most industries are spawning vast amounts of data which , in turn , has spurred the need for people who know how to interpret and analyse that data ,” he said .
Once the business goal of the analysis is determined , an analysis methodology is selected and business data is acquired to support the analysis . Data acquisition often involves extraction from multiple business systems and data sources , then cleansing and integrating data into a single repository such as a data warehouse or data mart .
Compared to the West , the Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) has been relatively slow in its widespread adoption of analytics , especially among small and medium-sized businesses ( SMBs ). While remote work has served as a catalyst to drive businesses in the SMB segment to explore analytics tools to offer better visibility and measure productivity , industry pundits expect to see a rise in the adoption of analytics solutions among SMBs in the MEA and also increased adoption within individual departments of an organisation at enterprise level .
Stephen Gill , Academic Head , School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences , Heriot-Watt University Dubai , said business analytics is the process of applying Big Data , statistical analysis and
Ghaith Ghazi , Regional Vice President – Mediterranean , Middle East and Africa , Tableau Software , said Middle East companies that increasingly rely on data analytics can make better decisions and often see a positive change in culture too . Ghazi said a data culture interacts with changes in corporate culture and processes . “ This means a profound change in mentality and in practice , makes data-driven decision-making the standard and ideal at all levels of a company . Such a transformation does not happen overnight , but in the long term it benefits the entire company , especially during periods of change ,” he said .
Nauman Qureshi , VP , Product at STARZPLAY , said business Analytics is not anything new to the Middle East as companies in the region have long been using technologies which enable businesses to analyse their performance .
Qureshi said the difference largely has been with the shift towards using cloud platforms such as AWS , Google Cloud Platform or Azure .
26 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com