Tech Insight: Rado Kotorov, Information Builders

What’s the next big disruptive play in the technology sectors and what impact will it have?

One disruption typically follows another. So the biggest disruption today is Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, but the biggest disruption tomorrow will be the new types of analytics available for that sensor data. Sensors collect data on very granular levels — seconds and milliseconds. Such level of detail will enable us to see things that we have never seen before. Just as with the invention of the microscope, the invention of the new types of data analytics will open the doors to unprecedented discoveries.

What will be the biggest growth opportunities for your customers in 2017 and why?

Driving analytics into operational decision-making. Money is made and lost in operations, and most of the decisions in operations today are made based on gut feeling. That means that many of those decisions are wrong. Companies are learning quickly that standardising the decision-making process and implementing fact-based decision-making standards are the fastest ways to enhance performance and competitiveness. As a key Google executive stated in an interview, a key part of Google’s digital culture is for everyone to make decisions based on facts.

What innovative technologies do you see emerging in your solution categories in 2017, and how will they help your customers?

The two key technologies are artificial intelligence and search. Both of these technologies have long histories, but now they are making their way into operational applications. AI gives people faster access to insights and also allows for the automation of many decision tasks. Search gives business users not only faster access to information and insights but also the ability to find more relevant contexts to understand better those facts and insights. As one chief of a police department put it, search has turned every street cop into a detective as they can immediately connect the facts through search.

Which challenges or trends emerged in 2016 that the industry wasn’t prepared for?

Technology’s ability to deliver a competitive advantage saw a digital transformation in nearly every industry. From healthcare to manufacturing, it’s hard to find an area of business that was not affected by sensors, digital records or automation. Indeed, digitalisation intensified and this meant more data. This is where BI and analytics had to play a crucial role — in the conversion process from row data to value. And for the value to materialise, the BI and analytics had to be operationalised, or in other words made an integral part of the money-making business processes. Therefore, BI and analytics became the top priority for the CIO. In my opinion, we are about to turn corners on this and indeed materialise the benefits of BI and analytics. And the reason I predict that is precisely because the CIOs are leading the digitisation of operational processes. For the first time, the CIOs are becoming owners of business processes.

Dr Rado Kotorov is Vice President of Product Marketing for Information Builders and works both with the Business Intelligence and the iWay product divisions to provide thought leadership, analyse market and technology trends, aid in the development of innovative product roadmaps and create rich programs to drive adoption of BI, analytics, data integrity and integration technologies. Prior to his current role, he was Executive Director of Strategic Product Management and Competitive Strategy.