How big data will impact business and society?

By: European Forum for New Ideas
 
WARSAW, Poland - Sept. 30, 2014 - PRLog -- Big data offers revolutionary capabilities and may be as important to business and society as the Internet has become. Nonetheless, critics worry about online privacy and freedom. The consequences of employing new technologies and the future model of the Internet will be discussed at the upcoming European Forum for New Ideas (EFNI), taking place at Sopot between October 1-3.

Proponents of data innovation regard data as the oil of this century. According to SINTEF, 90% of the existing data was created in last two years and 75% of all digital data have been generated by consumers and it doubles every 20 month. Therein lies an enormous potential for analysis allowing to unlock the power of data and get value from it.

„Big data enables to identify useful patterns in the large volumes of data and see far beyond today. This brings opportunities for businesses to identify trends and transform information into revenue, whereas societies can benefit from innovations driven by big data. Undoubtedly, leaders of the future will stand out by using big data and predictive analytics” – says Wojciech Borowski (CEO Poland, McCann Worldgroup, Chairman of the SKM SAR Supervisory Board)

In the era of digital economy the benefits of big data are more realized by companies, which put greater attention to information management and how to make the best use of data they have already gathered. According to Cisco, two of three IT professionals argue that big data will be a strategic priority for their companies in the four years ahead. This technology can be particularly useful in quantitative research and predicting. By the use of big data solutions businesses can deepen understanding about consumers, discern sales patterns and predict trends with a strong degree of accuracy and adjust pricing strategies accordingly. Big data is also believed to increase employment. Gartner estimates the creation of 4,4 million IT jobs supporting big data projects around the world by 2015.

Individuals and societies will also benefit from big data. Consumers will receive products and services better tailored to their expectations. Most importantly, big data allows to collect and analyze more data about patients’ health and in effect improve treatment outcomes. This can also play a significant role in tracking the movement of infected people, thereby helping societies detect epidemics. For instance, Google used its search data in order to track the spread of influenza in real time.

On the other hand, a challenge for companies is how to combine business requirements with the relevant technology, and hire highly qualified specialists with experience in both business strategy and data analysis likewise.

Another argument frequently made by skeptics against big data and online developments is that this constitute a predominant threat to security and freedom in the Internet. Massive amounts of personal data being now collected and stored raise concerns over privacy infringements.

To illustrate that point, data brokers gather information about online behaviours of individuals and share data with third parties frequently without people’s consent. Critics say this is tantamount to losing control over our identity online, and giving to much leeway in reusing data on consumers. Some worry this hinders our freedom online and is leading to questions about enhancing regulations of the Internet and developing a new online governance model.

„While the Internet has created an unprecedented space of freedom, there are also serious threats to security and privacy. It is essential to understand how to deal with data and make sure that entities using new technologies adhere to data protection laws and conduct in line with ethical standards. With new developments, the online reality is changing rapidly, what requires a debate on the future model of Internet, which would foster benefits of digitization and reduce safety risks” – says Tomasz Wardyński (Lawyer and Founding Partner of Wardyński & Partners).

As professor Gary King put it „there is a big data revolution”. With the advent of this technology and Internet development, the world is facing a new reality that changes the way people think about data usage and privacy. The upcoming European Forum for New Ideas will be a venue of thought-provoking discussions on the impact of big data and models for the future Internet.

More details about the forum and agenda are available here: http://efni.pl/en/
End
Source:European Forum for New Ideas
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Tags:EFNI, Big Data, Business, Consumer, Society
Industry:Business, Consumer
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