Cape Town, 23 Jan 2014
Julian Ardagh, CEO of Effective Intelligence, shared his view on the latest developments and trends affecting businesses in South Africa. He answered numerous questions, sharing his insight into the South African and global business intelligence (BI) industry in the wake of 2013.
Q. What were the major industry developments in 2013 and what can business do to derive success from them in 2014?
[Julian Ardagh] 2013 was an important year for the growth of data intelligence and for business to get a handle on data-driven business operations. Perhaps the biggest development was the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Bill. By supporting constitutional rights to privacy, the Act will bring South Africa up to par with international standards of data protection. As a result of this Act, citizens will get better protection for their personal information, as they have a constitutional right not to have their personal details searched. The Act was signed into law by President Jacob Zuma in November last year and I see this as a positive step for businesses and individuals alike because it will enhance the value proposition by the best BI providers in the industry.
Q. Mobile, SaaS and big data will push global IT spend to $2.22 trillion in 2014, with the biggest area of spend on software at $568 billion. How will this influence South African businesses and, more specifically, IT leaders?
[Julian Ardagh] The growth and increased spending you are referring to presents an important opportunity mainly for the US, UK and Scandinavian countries. Companies in other countries such as South Africa may be more worried about their countries sliding back into recession. They will have to identify and exploit every opportunity and pursue new projects as hard as possible. Needless to say that business intelligence will play an important role in this struggle. IT leaders will find the need to bring real innovation to the table as they compete with other IT companies in this rapidly evolving tech environment. Their chief information officers will be tasked with making contingency plans regarding the new projects with which they intend to capitalise on the growing economy.
Q. In the past year, many companies turned to predictive analytics to gain the upper hand over competitors; will predictive analytics remain high on the agenda this year?
[Julian Ardagh] Yes, predictive analytics will certainly remain high on the agenda, as companies start building a BI platform and look for ways to derive value from their data. Predictive analytics has been one of the most effective BI aspects that sharpened the competitive edge for numerous companies not just in South Africa but across the world. More and more departments and companies are using predictive analytics across a range of disparate data types to complement BI and data discovery. The most cohesive goal being predictive analytics' aptitude to detect trends and patterns in data for understanding consumer behaviour. A significant edge in analytics is the use of second and third-party data to improve the outcomes.
Q. What were the biggest stumbling blocks your clients faced in 2013 and how can companies avoid similar pitfalls in the new year?
[Julian Ardagh] It's interesting to note that the biggest stumbling blocks for BI clients rarely change. The biggest problems that companies face related to business intelligence invariably include poor data, poor acquisition campaigns and lack of insights. All these translate into low-quality intelligence that is ultimately converted to poor decisions and hence poor performance. It's almost always about the data. Data is the fabric of business intelligence and if a company gets that wrong, it is difficult, in fact next to impossible, to get any benefits of good business intelligence. So my advice to companies to avoid such issues, whether in 2014 or any subsequent year, would be to be very specific about their goals when hiring a BI company. This is because business intelligence companies such as Effective Intelligence are continuously improving their game so to speak, and learning and adopting the new technologies in the industry. This is something quite difficult for companies or their in-house BI team to do in isolation.
Q. What trends will take the lead in 2014?
[Julian Ardagh] For business intelligence and analytics, the leading trends will revolve around speed and flexibility. We will be seeing a lot more mobile BI users and this will lead to the creation of customised mobile business intelligence applications. Predictive analytics, gaining momentum, will need faster processing capabilities because predictive analytics is inherently about speed and quick decisions and the ability to swiftly respond to large quantities of data. Some of this speed improvement will come from the emerging "marketing data platforms". Also, marketing, more specifically content marketing, will be a leading trend in 2014. Companies and brands, just like individuals, are becoming increasingly dependent on online content. 2013 saw a vast increase in the implementation of marketing automation solutions and 2014 will continue to see this trend.
Q. Does it then make sense for marketing to have a separate database?
[Julian Ardagh] It most certainly does. Marketing data will continue to come from an increasing number of different sources, which creates a strong need for excellent database functionality. I strongly believe that marketing departments and functions deserve every bit of the growing focus and resources they are commanding. Marketers certainly need better databases. The new trend is to license a dedicated marketing data platform as consumers today are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages every day. Marketers need the power of special databases on their side to make their marketing endeavours matter. As people interact through multiple channels, marketers have to meet them and engage them via a continuous conversation across these channels. They will definitely improve their efficiency of doing so by enriching their conversations and engagements with the help of external sources ranging from Web pages to social media to commercial databases. The magnitude, both size and importance of the marketing function, warrants a dedicated marketing data platform.
As this question-and-answer session shows, business intelligence will continue to play an increasingly important role in companies across South Africa, and Effective Intelligence's vision will help its clients make the most of the power of business intelligence in 2014.
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