Data may now be perceived as “big”, but that does not mean it is only for large enterprises. With the proliferation of internet-enabled technologies, such as mobile, social media and the internet of things, having less revenue and fewer people no longer means you have less information.
A recent report by Research and Markets forecasts that the global big data market for small and medium-sized enterprises, (SMEs), will grow at a compound annual rate of 43 per cent until 2018.
Just like large enterprises, SMEs can use big data to better understand their customers, tap into new markets and cut out unnecessary costs across the business, all in real-time. When you, however, start to collect and store all the data available to you, which can quickly reach petabytes in volume, having the capital to invest in the associated hardware and software can create a real problem for mid-market firms.
Against the backdrop of this, organizers of the Nigerian International Technology Exhibition and Conference, (NITEC), have announced that the theme of the second edition of the conference, which will take place on July 4, 2017 at Sheraton Hotel, Lagos will be on ‘The Future of Big Data, Analytics and Applications for SMEs Development’.
Dipo Faulkner, the Country Manager of IBM, is expected to present a paper on “The interplay of Cloud, Big Data and Analytics for economic transformation”, while Pius Okigbo Jnr, CEO of InfoSoft Nigeria, will also be presenting a paper on “How government policies drive adoption of new technologies” at the NITEC 2017. Many industry stakeholders are also expected to take part in various panel discussions and exhibitions as well as networking slated for the Conference.
The theme of the maiden edition was “The Role of Disruptive Technologies in Catapulting the African Continent’s GDP” – showcasing the best of tech innovation and disruptive technologies in Nigeria and Africa at large.
The event had in attendance eggheads from different sectors, such as Adedoyin Adeola, Vice President, Network Operations, Airtel Nigeria, who represented the MD/CEO, Segun Ogunsanya; Okoh Ahie, Head of Online Media and Special Publications, Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC); Yele Okeremi, CEO, Precise Financial Systems; Tunde Coker, CEO, Rack Centre and Juliet Ehimuan, Country Manager, Google Nigeria, among others.
Participants were drawn from public and private sectors as well as startups including students, etc. They included Nigeria Communications Commission, (NCC), National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA), Nigeria Internet Registration Association, (NiRA), among others. Exhibitors and partners had the opportunity to showcase their products.
You can visit http://nitec.com.ng/ for more information on the 2017 edition of NITEC.
Participants interested in attending #NITEC2017 can register here.