Recently, GE's intelligent platforms business held a customer event where more than 60 company representatives learned how GE's automation to help elevate their business standards.

The day focused on how companies can take advantage of the industrial internet to manage industrial Big Data and achieve Real-time Operational Intelligence (RtOI). Attendees also learned about GE's Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics and High Performance Automation solutions.

Mobility, Asset Availability and Reliability, Process Performance Optimization, Operational Visibility and Collaboration and Ruggedised Control Platforms were some of the topics discussed at the conference with Automation and Control emphasis to offer benefit to companies in Kenya by affording them best-in –class solutions that will deliver tangible results.

Today, getting the most out of existing infrastructure is the new priority for business in Africa.  The Industrial Internet is transforming the way companies work by enabling new solutions to maximize asset availability, optimize processes and boost profit margins. This could be the best thing ever happened to Kenyan entities if responsibly embraced to avoid flops.

Big Data technology comes across as a jargon for techies to many. I know. This is pretty much intelligent analysis of data in this matter big (data) to come up with results or even say collection of large data sets, process them using the technology as opposed to the traditional data processing applications to come up with fast and well analyzed results for use.  Basically, information systems are moving from the back office, to being the backbone of business value creation.

Companies in Kenya have embraced Big Data already. Financial institutions are first in line with the technology based on mobile data and internet technology which has so far facilitated tremendous customer base growth.

However, flops have been witnessed with Big data. Maybe measures were not well taken in the process of application but again why would there be failure with the government yet so many committees and personnel are involved in establishing it? 2013 May Elections were designed for biometric process which failed even before the election got too far. The technology has always seemed a solution to handle large amounts of data why it is so hard to exploit the best of it is still questionable. Or maybe Kenya is just not ready for the kind of technology, call it dreading change maybe.

Lets not even go far into Big Data, what happened to Open data? Quoting article 35 in the Bill of Rights "Every Citizen has the right to access to information held by the state" the portal established in 2011 was meant for government ministries and sectors to put out information for the public to keep tabs on the government's happenings and allow them participate in various governmental activities. Soon after the launch which caused too much excitement among citizens, updates never came to see daylight. What was meant to kill the secrecy culture in the government ended up a flop.

Back to Big Data the Kenyan opposition party has also embraced the technology in collecting signatures to have the referendum through. Public servants are currently using the system to register in a project to eradicate ghost workers from pay roll which has caused the government a fortune over the years. How successful that has been is not confirmed since it is still underway but from what I hear, public servants have rolled in for registration to have them recognized by the government.

Why Big Data is good for your business;

Expands customer intelligence

The company uses big data to identify its most valuable customers today and tomorrow. And it's doing so without penalizing customers who aren't frequent renters. Big data examines a broad range of sources that include structured information such as purchase histories, customer relationship management (CRM) data and intelligence from industry partners, as well as unstructured information such as social media. In the case of the airline, those partners could include credit card companies, hotels and other travel industry sources.

Improves operational efficiencies

Big data will help companies drive more operational efficiencies from existing investments. Feedback loop is created by data generated in the field, and it's growing at a pace that's hard to comprehend. Sensors on a single commercial aircraft generate 20 terabytes of data an hour.

For instance, insurance companies; which have long been data driven, will benefit significantly from the introduction of big data. Industry-specific analytics will help them speed claims processing while reducing costs and spotting potential fraud by use of analytics-backed solutions that can determine whether a claim can be processed automatically or should be flagged for review by a specialist.

New business processes;

As companies become more data-driven, it's only natural that those insights find their way into the hands of people who can put them into action. Mobility will accentuate the impact of big data on both customer intelligence and operational efficiency by making everything immediately actionable. Armed with immediate decision-making capability and intelligence on your mobile phone, you will be able to implement new business processes that will change how business is done.

credits: CSC