In a festive article for Business Computing World, Steven George-Hilley looks at how Big Data can be used in the public sector
As 2013 draws to a close there have been numerous reminders of just how chronically ill-equipped the UK public sector is for capturing, crunching and deploying big data to improve services. These shortcomings are not simply a minor inconvenience, in many instances sloppy data management has delivered poor public services costing time and money and in some cases threatening lives.
From the National Health Service (NHS) to schools, welfare and even Policing, this year we have all seen some pretty appalling incidents that could and should have been prevented by the efficient exchange of critical information. Contrast the UK public sector’s approach to big data management to that of a world-famous early adopter, Father Christmas.
This guy would seriously be topping all the Gartner Magic Quadrants and making tidal waves out of Forrester Waves when it comes to getting big data right. I mean, not only does he know the address, age and Christmas wish list of every child in the world, but he also uses analytics to map the mileage and travel time between each house to ensure he does the job in a single night.
His elves gather so much data about each kid’s behaviour throughout the year that his dashboard even tells him if the child has been naughty or nice. A few people try to tell me that it’s all done by magic, but I don’t believe them, there is no way he could drill-down and make so many accurate decisions without a BI system in place. But taking this example, and the many other brilliant examples delivered by private sector companies in the UK and you begin to see just how poorly equipped our government is to deliver on data management in the public sector….read more at Business Computing World.
