Across every sector and in every boardroom, Big Data is disrupting business models.
The challenge facing enterprises is how to monetise data and drive new revenues. To do that, organizations will need data savvy and business savvy innovators who can trigger a wave of next-generation applications and tightly honed business models and strategies. To keep pace with demand, governments and the private sector will need to invest in education programmes that can generate the skilled talent needed to exploit the global Big Data opportunity.
In Ireland last month, EMC, together with University College Cork (UCC), the Irish Management Institute (IMI), and SAS, announced an executive education program designed to help business leaders use surging volumes of data to enable enterprise innovation and the creation of new jobs. The new Masters in Data Business and Diploma in Data Business, proposed and co-designed by EMC, and to be run jointly by IMI and UCC, covers the increasing role that the combination of technology, data, services, economics, innovation, business models, analytics and strategic data management play in the success of an organisation. Many of our highest performing employees at the Ireland Center of Excellence (COE) are in this program which officially kicked off this past April.
This program is complemented by a Masters and an undergraduate Degree in Cloud Computing launched by EMC in conjunction with Cork Institute of Technology two years ago. The Masters is an internationally validated program that is delivered remotely with both lectures and labs available to students on demand. This year’s commencement will be officiated by the Ireland Minister for Education which demonstrates Ireland’s commitment to educating and enabling today’s workforce to be ready for the disruptive transformation to IT that cloud computing brings.
The Masters in Data Business will play a critical role in educating Ireland’s next generation of business leaders. The use of data analytics in everyday business activities is expanding dramatically and shaping the global business environment. Ireland has made both cloud and Big Data a key part of our future growth strategy and the Minister for Innovation and Jobs presided at the launch of the Masters program. Both he and the Irish government believe in the power of Big Data and its significance to future economic growth and prosperity. EMC’s Ireland COE is delighted to play a role in this ongoing process.
For a Big Data effort to be successful, it must become a boardroom priority. For the first time, the tools are on the table, through cloud computing and Big Data, to eliminate barriers of cost and complexity, and turn information into revenue. Big Data analytics goes far beyond traditional rear-view intelligence. It is about understanding the marketplace and monetising information at a very advanced level.