Big Data Analytics Can Play a Crucial Role in National Development

Governments must effectively harness the power of Big Data Analytics if they are to coordinate programs within and across agencies, share information and use actionable intelligence to influence decisions that can contribute to national development and overall enhancement of citizen quality of life.

At a roundtable discussion on the topic of ‘Nation Development with Big Data Analytics’, Teradata’s Chief Technology Officer, Stephen Brobst highlighted the importance of having government agencies put in place a big data strategy that has the citizen as its focus as well as one that effectively harnesses the benefits of open data.

(L-R) Ivan Teh, Managing Director of Fusionex Corporation Sdn Bhd; Craig Morrison, Country Manager of Teradata Malaysia; Stephen Brobst, Chief Technology Officer of Teradata Corporation and Dr Karl Ng, Director of Innovation Capital Division of Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC).

The business of government encompasses diverse functions such as social services, taxation, and healthcare, which necessitates variety in platforms and techniques. Big Data Analytics is crucial to streamline the operations of government agencies, enabling them to seamlessly provide consistent, clear and transparent information to citizens.

“A multi-channel strategy will help government agencies deliver interactions that are connected and accurate to help citizens make better decisions, be it regarding healthcare, banking, insurance or even government services,” said Brobst, who is a former member of the President’s Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) under Barack Obama.

“With higher levels of data integration and quality, agencies will be able to apply more sophisticated analytics to optimize their finance operations; to identify fraud and waste; and to improve financial and award reporting,” he added.

Gartner has recently identified cost-effective open data as one of the ten most important technology trends for government in 2015.[1] An earlier report by McKinsey & Company found that open data, particularly government data, can help unlock $3 trillion (RM11.4 trillion) to $5 trillion (RM19 trillion) in economic value annually.[2]

Harnessing open data goes beyond simply releasing the data and can make the data accessible and easily analyzed. As Gartner pointed out, the value of open data must become tangible for the government;   and availability must quantifiably contribute to operational efficiency or effectiveness, while supporting economic development and national productivity.

Craig Morrison, Country Manager for Teradata in Malaysia said, “The benefits of big data analytics are significant and should be clear and compelling to public sector agency decision-makers as well as users. Since the announcement of the National Big Data Analytics Initiatives in 2013, we have also seen how analytics technologies that have delivered exceptional results for the private sector can be put in place to deliver benefits for the government here”.

He added that Teradata is working closely with Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) to develop high impact projects that can help build a compelling case on how big data analytics can benefit society, the government and businesses within Malaysia. Teradata is part of MDeC’s National Big Data Analytics Innovation Network – working to accelerate big data analytics adoption in Malaysia.

About Teradata

Teradata (NYSE: TDC) helps companies get more value from data than any other company. Teradata’s leading portfolio of big data analytic solutions, integrated marketing applications, and services can help organizations gain a sustainable competitive advantage with data. Visit teradata.com.

[1] http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3069117

[2] http://www.teradatamagazine.com/v14n01/Viewpoints/The-Business-of-Government/