Big Data is affecting companies of all sizes. However, many of them do not know how to properly mine important information it. Microsoft hopes to change this through an art exhibition that demonstrates how Big Data tools can be used to make sense of seemingly meaningless information.
Microsoft South Africa believes that the current South African business environment represents an important growth opportunity for the mining of data for firms seeking a competitive edge.
“Many people are talking about data becoming the new business currency,” says Kelly Husband, Microsoft South Africa’s Data Platform Product Marketing Manager. “Trending terms like Big Data, Internet of Things and Predictive Analytics are all buzz words in the market but the essence of what we are seeing is really the importance of data – existing data, new data, new insights from data, faster insights from data, and predictive analysis from data.”
Microsoft SA, through familiar technology tools such as Excel and SQL, is able to offer an unparalleled experience to businesses unlocking actionable insights with the ingestion and analysis of data.
Companies such as Tracker, a leading vehicle tracking company in South Africa, has been leveraging the data collected through the nodes in their customer database of vehicles to provide insights to organisations such as Navigation companies, Insurance companies, and Emergency Services.
“With the use of already installed vehicle tracking devices, we are able to track the live movements of vehicles around the country, segmenting the data down to the side-streets of the city we can predict traffic issues, map traffic incidents and even help define the state of the roads. The possibilities are endless to help organisations like to improve the quality of our roads or reroute emergency services to help improve emergency response time,” says Wayne De Nobrega CEO of Tracker South Africa.
“The impact that the analysis and understanding of the data on hand can have on business is already redefining the way businesses are operating in the country. Through the analysis and visualisation of the data, we have been able to effect change and impact the way we offer services to our customers and our partners.”
In order to showcase the evolving role of data in business Microsoft South Africa launched an art exhibition last night at the Mr Price Court in Sandton City, which showcases the work of six young artists. Artists were commissioned to create pieces of artwork that illustrated what Big Data means to them as well as the potential it possesses to boost a business’s performance and bottom line.
Through the use of the art exhibition, Microsoft South Africa hopes to educate businesses and consumers about the possibilities that could be unleashed with Big Data, how the information available through analysis has the potential to empower business and the consumer.
The art exhibition, on display at the Mr Price Court in Sandton City, will be open to the public for a two week period as of 19 June.
For the piece entitled Cloud, Kgosietsile Ramorola (20) used a mirror and light to illustrate how Big Data tools can be used to make sense of seemingly meaningless information. “My idea is to use light from the top to get the image that you are looking for. So the mirror works as a Microsoft tool, taking the image or information that’s at an awkward angle and displaying it on the wall in a clearer, bigger and easier to understand way.”
21 year old Njabulo Mziyane explains his train of thought when coming up with his artwork entitled Fly on the wall: “I thought of how much data is used every day and decided to amplify the amount of data, by taking something small and making it seem a lot bigger. With magnification as the tool, it demonstrates how a small amount of data can make a huge difference.”
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