Tag: Gary Allemann

In a dynamic world dominated by digital interaction, the power of connection is undeniable. The modern business landscape demands a profound understanding of omnichannel conversations as a key player for success.

Data integrity, security, and availability are vital aspects to consider whether it pertains to personal information, business records, or research data. However, many individuals and organisations often neglect the importance of data maintenance, which can lead to data ‘load shedding’, a term used to describe the loss, corruption, or unavailability of data due to poor data management practices.

For many years, the South African banking sector has strived to comply with international financial regulations, such as Basel II and its successors, in order to ensure cost effective access to global markets. With its focus on proving the accuracy of risk measures, Basel drove the adoption of data management principles within South Africa’s major banks, but with a risk focus.

The global economy is facing challenges on many fronts, with inflation and recession becoming the words of the day. As a result, budgets that are always tight (like IT) are under even more scrutiny than before. Any unnecessary spending needs to be curtailed, for obvious reasons, but does data management fall into this category?

We all have blind spots - in our personal lives, jobs, cars (though backup cameras help with that last one!). These blind spots impact how we see, navigate, and interact with the world. Often, we don’t even realise we have blind spots or what we’re missing until someone (or something) brings them to our attention.

There’s no doubt that the rise of our digital landscape has resulted in some incredible tools for businesses. These have opened global marketplaces to even small enterprises and made actionable data analysis more accessible. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning software continue to improve data integrity and efficiency.

We live in a new reality post-COVID-19, where customers are more digitally savvy, online 24/7 and have easy access to more options than ever before. Businesses need to adapt to this new reality, or they will be at a significant disadvantage.

South Africa is the only permanent African member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering watchdog. This is why it came as a shock to hear that the country is close to being grey-listed following concerns raised by the global body.

Way back, there was a joint course that combined students from the Computer Science (CS) department, which, at the time, was very focused on algorithms and programming skills, with students from the Business Information Systems (BIS) department – a more commercially oriented and less technical group.

In today’s corporate world, data is power, and for a business strategy to be worthwhile, it must be supported by substantial data. Moreover, without research, it will be difficult for organisations to identify areas of improvement.