By KTP Radhika
Data growth continues to double or even triple every year or two and organizations are facing many challenges in deriving meaningful information from data. At the recently held SAP Insider 2013 event at Singapore, the software giant presented some interesting insights on the new developments happening in the big data field and how some new sectors like sports are increasingly using business intelligence and analytics to run their businesses better.
Presenting his keynote address, Francois Lancon, President and Managing Director SAP South East Asia stressed on the growth of big data and the importance of analytics in the age of social and mobile. He observed that once, social was all about personal and now its all about business. “Success depends on how you transform your business and SAP enables in that transformation.” Citing an example of Formula 1, Lancon said that a F1 car has a lot technology and generates about 1 GB of raw data. “ F1 is a business and if you put analytics into it, you can get more value out of it.”
Many of the analytic solutions today are back ward looking. But to run a smart business, a company needs a forward looking solution felt Kurt J Bilafer, Regional VP , Analytics, SAP APJ. Speaking on the topic ‘Analytics: the power of people’, he said that it is important to get meaningful insights from the data that is popping out from social media, mobile devices and machine to machine communication in huge variety and volume. To tame the ever growing data, a company would require a smart analytical solution. With HANA, BusinessObjects (SAP’s BI software) and Lumira (visualization software) companies will be able to get meaningful information about their businesses.
Big opportunities
SAP is expecting that its partners around the world will earn US $220 billion in revenue in the next five years from its analytics and big data products. In that, almost about US $50 billion will be from Asia Pacific Japan(APJ) region. Last year, the company’s partners made US $6.1 billion of revenue in analytics and big data.
Big data does not always mean big enterprise. It is applicable to any size of organization. What is important is that the company has to have correct data tools to extract and analyze data. These were the thoughts that Anthony McMahon, SVP, Platform Businesses- Database, Technology, Analytics & Mobility SAP APJ shared.
Talking on ‘Changing the Game with Big Data,’ he pointed out that marrying analytics with external data should bring in a change in the overall business process of an organization. He said that BI will help companies in understanding customers in a better way and help servicing them better. For instance, predictive analytics can offer predictive healthcare which will help in providing the right services to every customer.
SAP showcased several analytic technologies that can help companies revolutionize their decision making process. SAP HANA, SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions, SAP Lumira, a next level visualization technology and their cloud and mobile analytic solutions were on display.
New areas
According to SAP, the top ten verticals with analytics and big data opportunities are discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, government, communications and media, banking, professional services, retail, healthcare, utilities and insurance. While the top drivers for adoption are cost control, operation optimization, financial analysis and risk management, companies are also using analytics heavily for customer acquisition, retention and product innovation.
SAP Insider also discussed about how some new verticals like sports are increasingly adopting BI and Analytics. “SAP helps more than 248,500 customers in 25 industries run better. Now we are bringing our experience and world-class technology to sports teams, leagues and venues to help them run faster, smarter and simpler,” Bilafer explained.
SAP has developed solutions for fan engagement, drive on field performance and optimize business efficiency. Citing a use case of McLaren Group (an F1 racing company), Bilafer explained how the company was able to analyze fuel consumption, optimum time for pick up, drivers’ performance etc. with SAP HANA. “The real-time analysis of car sensor data against both historical data and predictive models, helped the team to make immediate proactive corrections, avoid costly, dangerous incidents and win the race. With instant analysis of what is happening to the car while the race is on, the driver and engineers can work together to ensure a winning result,” he said.
Sap Insider also witnessed many other interesting use case presentations. For example, Kimberly-Clark, a company well-known for its global brands like Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups and Kotex, demonstrated how data analytics plays an important role in tracking the sales performance of its Huggies brand of diapers during promotion and measures the results against its market projections. SAP BusinessObjects Mobile has enabled the company to build a portfolio of mobile BI applications that provide key decision-makers with access to analytics and powerful insights anywhere, anytime.