Technology Trends that will Shape BI in 2017

In order to drive this transformation in analytics, organizations need to recognize the disruptive models, define clear business use cases, redesign business processes to leverage data driven insights, empower end-user, and create frontline and managerial capability to proactively manage change. Massive data integration can help break organizational silos. It is estimated that in Retail Banking alone, $260B of benefits could be derived globally with massive data integration.

There are several disruptive models in data analytics which industries can take advantage of. We will pick healthcare as an example and the disruptive models that it can take advantage of:

• Orthogonal data, which is getting fresh types of data to augment domain data, such as combining travel and health data to assess medical risk before travelling

• Radical personalization which could be incorporating the behavioral, genetic, and molecular data connected with many individual patients

• Enhanced decision making by preventing medical errors by getting more data points from new sources to improve validation and adding automated algorithms. An example of this could be a doctor who could make better decisions by combining data sources from lab work, data from wearables and correlation with predictive analytic algorithms.

Another technology trend that is a game changer for improving productivity and quality of life is deep learning (evolution of machine learning), using neural networks with many layers (and hence “deep”). It is estimated that more than 80 percent of the work activities associated with $14.5T of global wages could potentially be automated in the near future. This is compounded with breakthroughs in natural language processing.

In order to keep up with the technology trends and increased complexity of data and analytics, several technology vendors are scrambling to combine analytical tools with business insights. While data generation, collection, and aggregation have become easier, the biggest opportunity is in analytics. Increasingly, complex data analytics will require sophisticated translation, and use cases will be very firm-specific. The need for right talent in this space has become more acute, not only for data scientists but for translators who combine data with business and functional expertise. The opportunity in this space is so immense that firms in other parts of the ecosystem are scrambling to stake out a niche in the analytics market. In addition to vendors who are providing analytics as a service by integrating clients’ data, vendors are adding analytics to technology stacks. They are then leveraging the power of Cloud Computing and IBM Watson like services to help companies accelerate getting insights into their data.

Never before in the history of BI has it been this exciting and transformational with the power to drive unforeseen innovation and market disruption. We are in exciting times where data is the new oil/ currency and has an unprecedented potential to hyperscale the digital economy.

International SOS, founded in 1985, is a medical and travel security risk services company. Assisted by 11,000 employees and led by 5,200 medical professionals, the company has been saving lives from more than 1,000 locations in 90 countries. It is headquartered in Singapore and London and the Group comprises of several companies including International SOS, Aspire Lifestyles, and MedAire.