BECOMING AN INDUSTRY
LEADER IN THE DATA AGE
Written by Neil Kotze
Since the beginning of time, people have used tools to shape the world. In our relentless pursuit of augmenting our capabilities to achieve and become more, the modern devices we use have become an extension of ourselves. They create, share and store experiences, all the while recording the events that shape our entire being. These records paint a picture of our interests, behaviour, environment and how we choose to interact.
In 2018, the total amount of data created, captured or replicated was 33 zettabytes (ZB) and is projected to grow to 175 ZB by 2025 …if 175 ZB was written to DVDs, you would end up with 23 stacks that would each reach the moon.
1 zettabyte = 1 billion terabytes
The responsibility for storing data is shifting from consumer devices and company data centres to cloud solutions, giving organisations the opportunity to gain insight into their respective industries.
The data that your organisation possesses can be combined with trends from your industry and others to find paths and destinations that will provide a competitive advantage. Decisions made with a clear understanding of, and greater insight into, the landscape will lead to better results.
Although the analysis of data is not new, the scale and tools have changed. Organisations are using cutting-edge cloud-platform technology to gather information from various sources and change the way that data is analysed. Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions are used to make sense of vast amounts of data to augment people’s ability to understand and use that data in a meaningful way. This enables organisations to find answers to a new class of questions – answers that have the power to transform industries.
Competing in the data age requires organisations to build a robust data strategy. The approach to gathering, storing and securing data influences the amount of information capital an organisation owns. Having the expertise to effectively leverage that information capital is central to a successful data strategy which will determine whether your organisation will lead your industry into the data age.
