Big Data is a Big Deal for Serbia

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Goran Slijepcevic, Analytics Sales Leader, IBM Serbia

With IBM SEE BusinessConnect just 34 days away, I am very much looking forward to some inspiring conversations on a topic I am passionate about: how IBM analytics solutions we sell today can help our clients define their cognitive journey to the future and build digital distinctiveness.
In analytics and cognitive computing, it is not only the end result that counts but also the journey, i.e. in order to define which direction we need to take, we have to know where we want to go. The key differentiator here is the data. Over the last two years, we have created 90 percent of the world’s total data. We are now generating 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day: this is much more than the equivalent of all the words spoken since the beginning of time. The value of accessing the ever-expanding pool of data is especially great when huge volumes of structured and unstructured data are being collected, processed and analyzed in real time in order to reveal unexpected connections and provide unique insights. This is how data and analytics are elevated to a new level and represent an important corporate asset not in the future but right now.
IBM in Serbia and worldwide relies on what is today probably the most comprehensive analytics platform with the most advanced toolset and expertise portfolio. From the “Netezza” analytics data warehousing equipment, the well-known Cognos business analytics, SPSS tools designed for statistical and predictive analytics and i2 advanced analytics systems, to the contemporary BigData platforms – IBM helps its clients to begin their cognitive journey and become industry leaders by analyzing and utilising the new natural resource called DATA.

Serbian companies innovate and build digital distinctiveness with analytics
IBM Analytics can help clients achieve the economies of scale as well as increased responsiveness and competitiveness. A series of case studies was presented at this year’s “IBM Analitika 2016” (IBM Analytics 2016) conference held in mid-March in Belgrade, facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing among clients and business partners. In addition, the conference provided valuable insights into current global trends and practical experience of Serbian companies that implement their analytics projects by using IBM technologies.

Let me take you through some examples:

The Association of Serbian Insurers uses IBM i2: the system paid itself off as early as the pre-production phase
The Association of Serbian Insurers, an organization representing Serbian insurance companies, uses an IBM i2 solution implemented by SALVIOL to analyze car insurance-related data with the goal of reducing insurance fraud. One of the main requirements was high availability of the system and the 24/7/365 online accessibility. In addition to detecting logical errors in data records and quickly detecting fraud attempts, the i2 system enables the Association, which is currently handling around 2.5 million data transactions per year, to analyze large volumes of insurance data. It identifies potential anomalies and irregularities and notifies the insurance companies about possible frauds. The reduction in the number of frauds in the car insurance sector was so significant that the system practically paid itself off during the pre-production phase.

IBM Netezza facilitates faster and more efficient decision-making at Telekom Srbija
Telekom Srbija, a SEE leader in in fixed and mobile telecommunications, Internet, and media, uses IBM Netezza and Cognos BI solutions in its corporate data warehousing and business intelligence system. Due to the fact that its data was siloed in a number of disparate solutions (in-house developed applications and packaged software solutions from 3rd party vendors), Telekom Srbija was not able to carry out comprehensive analyses at the company level. The solution was to implement a centralized data warehousing and business intelligence system, which was initially based on DB2 DWH and Cognos technologies. This system enabled a centralized data analysis functionality and reporting, which significantly speeded up data-based decision-making processes. By switching to IBM Netezza in 2015, the speed of data processing and analysis was additionally and significantly increased. This provided the much needed flexibility in performing the analyses and enabled Telekom Srbija to increase clients’ responsiveness.

Greater efficiency through data visualization at the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia
The Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia opted for Cognos BI solution in order to consolidate reporting in key business areas, increase efficiency and establish a better overview of key security-related parameters. With the implementation of the new solution, previous manual reporting, which was unnecessarily complicated and prone to errors, was automated. Finally, a centralized reporting and analysis system was established on the Cognos platform, which, in turn, led to the simplification of related processes and improved process visualization. Due to an almost exponential increase in speed and volume of data processing, the Ministry can now perform analyses and gain insights that were until then out of their reach.

Serbian National Employment Service fights unemployment through centralized reporting
Serbian National Employment Service connects unemployed individuals and hiring companies in more than 120 offices across the Republic of Serbia. The agency did not have a centralized reporting system, which made the process of creating reports unnecessarily complicated, tedious and slow. By integrating the Cognos BI platform, the agency gained a fully-fledged analysis and reporting system. In addition to significantly speeding up and simplifying data-based processes, as well as making them more accurate, the system enables its users to better identify potential problems and trends related to employment. This, in turn, makes it possible for this agency to address this issue more efficiently and directly contribute to lowering the unemployment rate in Serbia.