PH BUSINESS, GOVT LEADERS URGED TO INVEST IN BIG DATA

ATECHNOLOGY solutions company has urged Filipino business and government leaders to realize the capability of bigdata analytics in driving growth, saying that the Philippines is yet to fully maximize its potential.

This comes as industry reports reveal that big- data analytics processes large and varied sets to uncover hidden patterns and help users’ improve their decisionmaking.

“We are convinced that proper access to data can help companies make smarter decisions that can further boost our country’s growth. Now is the best time for the government and private sector to get on board with this,” Cobena President and CEO Francis del Val said in a statement on Thursday.

He acknowledged that “rampant hacking, data breaches and other forms of cybercrimes” have increased fears among the private and public sectors in investing in big-data analytics.

“In terms of this type of analyt- ics, the nation is still in its infancy stage. Familiarizing people with innovations like the cloud can help dispel their fears and skepticism,” del Val said.

For Torre Lorenzo Development Corp. President Tomas Lorenzo, technology can be used as a weapon against the Panama disease outbreak in the country.

“When the Panama disease struck plantations here, the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association collected data to combat the outbreak. With the help of farmers and even the government, they disseminated information to control the infected areas and warn others,” Lorenzo said.

“Even if this is a success story in terms of coordination, data- sharing and management were still contained within their own groups,” he added.

According to del Val, a uniform way of gathering and managing information could improve the system.

“While some banking and healthcare institutions already have electronic records and docu still rely on hard copies. Digitization will allow companies to derive more useful insights and share them across industries,” he said.

“[Industry leaders] must begin with an end in mind. What are their objectives? From these, they can determine the strategies and infrastructure that they need, so that their investments will be worth it,” he added.