The potential of smart data and analytics to transform businesses and drive revenue growth was brought into the spotlight at the recently concluded second annual Smart Data Summit in Dubai, UAE.

Produced by global conference organizers, Expotrade, the summit was attended by over 300 participants, over two days of keynote presentations, panel discussions and case studies.

The summit commenced with a welcome address delivered by IBM’s Sunil Mahajan, who explained in a presentation that insights having a profound effect on businesses can be uncovered using big data harnessed from a number of sources and analyzed in different ways.

He emphasized how faster, easier and smarter analytics services were the need of the hour, and highlighted how IBM has helped organizations realize the value of big data and analytics.

Facebook’s Mario Vinasco spoke on influencing product decisions with analytics. Using examples of Facebook campaigns such as ‘A Look Back’, Network Experiments including ‘Say Thanks’, and the shuttle bus operation, he explained the extensive analytics completed on each.

Braintree, a division of PayPal’s Daniel Nelson explored the topic of data science and the mobile revolution in his presentation, which examined how commerce is changing due to the disruptive force of ‘mobile’, early data science successes and presented a snapshot of the future.

Twitter’s industry manager Anupam Dikhit focused on using smart data to drive real-time personalized marketing at scale. Stressing on the importance of scale, he mentioned how approximately one billion tweets generated every two days translated into large amounts of data signals which, in turn, help build recent user profiles.

Flipkart’s Pravin Shinde explained the use of digital analytics to improve marketing of e-commerce portals, while Hyatt International’s Parthasarathi Mandal shared his thoughts on how smarter data meant smarter hotel businesses.

Sessions on Day 1 included speakers from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du), Nakheel, Data Aurora, along with premium sponsors Thomson Reuters, HP Big Data, Denodo, Qlik, Wipro, presenting on topics such as the impact of big data on the telecom industry; data governance and security; next generation analytical platforms; data virtualization; discovering the power of big data; redesigning business digitally; using technology to improve customer experience; big data ephemeralization. The panel discussed in detail how big data analytics could reinvent social media marketing.

Day 2 highlights included speakers from Al Ahli Holding Group, UAE University, UAE Exchange, Al Safeer Group of Companies, speaking on optimizing loyalty programs; integration of social media with CRM/ERP systems; big data and quantum computing; building of the brand using smart data.

The day’s discussion featured the panel shedding light on the metrics to measure ROI on smart data investments in marketing.

The networking sessions, particularly the lunches sponsored by Badr IT also proved popular, with active discussions taking place during these times.

Dikhit said: “In terms of the way the event has been designed, the kind of speakers that presented, the entire structure and format – I think it’s fantastic. Because you have taken an issue or space that is up coming and a region that is up and coming – we have seen a lot of traction happen in the Middle East over the last few years, so it’s really a sunrise sector here  – and you have got the best of thought-leaders from across the world. That’s not a mean feat.”

Dr Dirk Jungnickel, senior vice president at du, a leading UAE telecom provider, said: “It has been a very pleasant and interesting event. I had some very good conversations during the breaks and also the presentations so far have been first-class. It’s a good mix of vendors and consumers of big data technologies or people who are applying the technologies.”

Brad Hariharan, regional director, Expotrade Middle East, organizers of the conference, said: “The Smart Data Summit successfully highlighted the tremendous importance of smart data and analytics in today’s connected world.”

“The last two days have demonstrated the impact that data analytics can have across sectors and industries, establishing this event as the premier event of its kind in the region. We thank our sponsors, delegates, speakers and partners and look forward to bringing next year’s edition to this audience,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service