Advisory Board sets the Agenda for Peer Review Kingdom Big Data & Analytics Summit

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Feb. 15, 2016 - PRLog -- Peer Review have released details of their Board of Advisors for the upcoming Big Data & Analytics Summit to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the 26^th – 27^th April 2016, at the Marriott Hotel.

The names featured on the board for the Saudi event read like a who’s who of the most influential figures in IT, Big Data and Data Science in general, and as details of the first board meeting have also been released, the summit promises much to look forward to, particularly as the adoption of Big Data continues to emerge as being evermore critical to the region’s governments and companies in order to remain internationally competitive.

Introducing the board
The board features key IT-based individuals from within Saudi Arabia and internationally, all keen to help illustrate the methodology and importance of Big Data adoption across all channels of business and government in the Kingdom. The board includes:

·       Dr Osama Elhassan, Vice-Chair Emirates Health Informatics Society

·       Majed A. Al-Shangiti, Director-IT Strategic Department, MAADEN

·       Dr Hosam K. Rowaihy Director, Information Technology Centre, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)

·       Aiedh Al Zahrani, Executive Vice President, Business Technology Division, Riyad Bank

·       Munthir Al-Ansari, Director General of Tourism Information and Research Centre (MAS)

·       Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage

·       Juergen Urbanski, Vice President Client Success, Silicon Valley Data Science

·       Mohammed A. Tayyib, Division Head, Business Intelligence Solution Department, Finance, Saudi Aramco

·       Dr Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist, Halliburton

·       Dr Jonathan Reichental, Chief Information Officer (CIO), City of Palo Alto

·       Dr Dirk Jungnickel, SVP - Business Analytics New Business & Innovation, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, Du

During the first board meeting, a number of key topics were discussed and identified as being crucial for inclusion within the agenda for the summit. Areas earmarked for inclusion in the agenda and keynote speeches were Education, Awareness, Regulation, Architecture and Data Science for efficiency. These topics were identified as being crucial areas of consideration for Saudi Arabia, as although awareness of the importance of Big Data is widespread throughout the country,

implementation of ideas and strategies relating to Big Data integration are not so well-documented at this stage in the country’s development.

Commenting at the meeting, Dr Hosam K. Rowaihy Director, Information Technology Centre, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), identified the role of Big Data & Analytics in the achievement of one of the government’s key performance areas – efficiency. He said: “Governments are looking at being more efficient, and building this efficiency to the highest levels requires gathering a lot of data from different sources and analysing it to find the insights that will help to improve efficiency.”

He continued: “Being efficient requires insights, and for generating insights we need lots of data. We will need to consider all data sources, and Big Data Analytics will play a pivotal role in making us more efficient.”

Majed A. Al-Shangiti, Director-IT Strategic Department, MAADEN, targeted the importance of Big Data Adoption for SME’s, saying: “Big Data Analytics are such a great opportunity for small and medium size enterprises. SME’s are a major part of today’s economy, and identifying areas where SME’s will benefit from the use of Data Science and Big Data Analytics should be covered.”

The Kingdom Big Data & Analytics Summit
The summit will promote and establish ideas to implement the transformation into a data-driven organisation of any size. This will include keynote speeches that tackle the following areas:

Motivation: We cover the reasons to consider adapting an organisation for Big Data, and the methodology involved in preparing the business for implementation.

Strategy: Learn how the best in the business have successfully implemented a Big Data strategy encompassing specific business objectives, budgets and timeframes.

Architecture: Leading, successful and early adopters of Big Data will share their ideas on the development of a blueprint for identifying the right technology dependent upon business needs, a technical direction, sourcing strategies and vendor selection.

Engineering: Focused on infrastructure to use data in order to provide a competitive edge, speakers will deliver ideas on how to quickly master and leverage Big Data, minimise associated risks and rapidly implement and upgrade best practices as required.

In addition to the aforementioned pillars of Big Data, attendees will find they leave armed with knowledge on roles, responsibilities and career paths, identifying the ideal candidates to oversee Big Data implementation, and developing the organisation into a veritable Big Data centre of excellence, which operates beyond the industry standard.

For more information on how to attend, participate or become a sponsor of the Kingdom Big Data & Analytics Summit, to be held on the 26^th-27^th April 2016, contact Peer Review today!

Telephone: +971 4 392 8974

Email: info@peerreview.ae

www.bigdata-saudi.com

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