Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 10 | Page 18

ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY Data is the new oil of today’s economy, as essential to modern business as steel, motors and coal were to the last great industrial revolution. Mohammed Abukhater, Regional Director, Middle East and Africa, FireEye verification before being moved to a final repository for further investigation. In this way, organisations can protect themselves from external threats. Integrating platforms that collect data and physical IT equipment are other ways to boost an organisation’s defences. Taking it a step further, organisations can now use advanced external platforms such as security information and event management (SIEM) platforms equipped with threat analytical platforms (TAP), extending beyond traditional SIEM as a Service capabilities by providing advanced security analytics and agile, sub-second search to streamline and accelerate incident investigation. Eventually, this can then assist in recognising and alerting incident respondents to threats more efficiently and effectively. Information on potential back doors and entry paths for attackers can be fed into the system as intelligence and acted on as a threat emerges. Identifying and responding to security issues in such a way can prevent data loss and protect Big Data systems from attacks in the future as well. 18 Mohammed Abukhater, Regional Director, Middle East and Africa, FireEye. Applying attribute-based encryption (ABE) can safeguard data from unauthorised users and improve access controls to protect sensitive data. Organisations should aim to set clear and consistent standards for data security, ensuring technology and employees follow them. CONDO PROTEGO Savitha Bhaskar, COO, Condo Protego Middle East channel partners see a major market opportunity for Big Data analytics solutions, especially as organisations are increasingly looking to leverage Big Data analytics to drive new levels of operational efficiency, customer experiences and new digital business models. With the exponential growth in data from sensors, mobile devices, machines and business applications, along with increasing regulatory pressure from new legislation, never before have Middle East organisations faced greater urgency to know what data they have, and how to manage it properly in order to drive better and faster decision-making. The biggest challenges facing Middle East CIOs is awareness about which data analytics solutions meet their long-term business needs. Middle East channel partners should work closely with their customers’ Chief Data Officer, firstly to sell the business value of digital transformation, built on actionable and accessible information. This starts with an organisation’s ability to retain relevant data and transform it into useable information, to make higher-level strategic decisions on the direction of its business. Training is vital for channel partners and their customers alike, especially as the field of Big Data analytics transitions so rapidly. Vendor channel management teams are at the cutting-edge of both industry trends and new solutions, and they need to help channel partners to constantly refresh their consultants’ staff skills through online and classroom training. As one of the Middle East’s leading information management and IT infrastructure consultancies and solutions providers, Condo Protego has seen strong success on leveraging Big Data solutions from industry-leading vendors such as Issue 10 INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS