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'Thingalytics' takes on digital disruption

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 26 Mar 2015
"Thingalytics" is a composite of "things" and "analytics", says Software AG.
"Thingalytics" is a composite of "things" and "analytics", says Software AG.

Digital business is disrupting operations like never before and to take advantage of this change, specifically the fast big data that flows from the digital planet, organisations need to deploy "thingalytics".

So said Riaaz Jeena, sales director at Software AG, speaking at the IDC South Africa CIO Summit in Johannesburg this week.

Jeena defines "thingalytics" as a composite of "things" and "analytics" to show organisations how to use real-time analytics and algorithms to seize the opportunities that flow from the Internet of things (IOT) while simultaneously minimising threats.

"Winners in the IOT race will not only profit but could possibly avert disaster," Jeena said. "Because of digitisation, a big change is needed in the way business operates."

He pointed out that connected customers are presenting challenges to organisations. "Customers are now providing a large number and variety of data sources, and organisations now need to derive 'context' from all these sources," he said.

"Organisations are unable to combine customer insights, inventory and competitor data on-the-fly; there is need for extreme speed and scale to act on customer context."

With the IOT, integration with countless "things" is disrupting enterprise architecture, said Jeena, adding companies are finding it difficult to automate maintenance scheduling, procurement and other core business services.

Another challenge in the digital era is regulation causing significant and continuous change, and organisations' controls are slow to respond to changing business risks, he noted.

Also presenting at the event, Jyoti Lalchandani, group VP and regional MD for MEA and Turkey at IDC, said driving innovation through IT should be a priority if organisations are to be successful in the digital world.

Highlighting IDC's research on CIOs' most pressing priorities in SA, Lalchandani said 56% rate driving innovations through IT; 54% managing IT governance, risk and compliance; managing growing expectations and service needs of users (48%); obtaining budgets for IT investment (44%); and aligning IT and business needs (44%).

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