Advances in technology and the exponential growth of information are revolutionizing business practices across various sectors, including government operations in the United Arab Emirates. The surge in data generation and digital archiving is driven by the proliferation of mobile devices and applications, smart sensors, cloud computing solutions, and citizen-facing portals. As the volume and complexity of digital information continue to expand, the challenges of managing, processing, storing, securing, and disposing of this data become increasingly intricate. However, new tools for capturing, searching, discovering, and analyzing unstructured data are empowering organizations to extract valuable insights. The government sector is at a critical juncture, recognizing that information is a strategic asset. To better serve their missions, governments need to protect, leverage, and analyze both structured and unstructured data, laying the groundwork to understand the interdependencies between events, people, processes, and information.
High-value government solutions will emerge from the integration of the most disruptive technologies:
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Mobile devices and applications
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Cloud services
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Social business technologies and networking
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Big Data and analytics
Big Data is one of the intelligent industry solutions that enable government entities to make better decisions by acting on patterns revealed through the analysis of large, diverse datasets—whether structured or unstructured.
However, achieving these outcomes requires more than just amassing vast amounts of data. "Making sense of these volumes of Big Data demands cutting-edge tools and technologies that can analyze and extract meaningful insights from extensive and varied information streams," Tom Kalil and Fen Zhao of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy wrote in a post on the OSTP Blog.
In 2012, the White House took a significant step to help agencies find these technologies by launching the National Big Data Research and Development Initiative. This initiative allocated over $200 million to harness the potential of Big Data and develop the necessary tools for its analysis.
The challenges posed by Big Data are as formidable as its promise is encouraging. Efficient data storage is one such challenge. Given tight budgets, agencies must minimize the cost per megabyte while ensuring easy access to data for users whenever and however they need it. Backing up massive amounts of data exacerbates this challenge.
Effectively analyzing the data is another major hurdle. Many agencies use commercial tools to sift through vast datasets, identifying trends that can enhance operational efficiency. A recent study by MeriTalk found that federal IT executives believe Big Data could help agencies save more than $500 billion while also meeting their mission objectives.
Custom-developed Big Data tools are also enabling agencies to address the need for data analysis. For instance, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Computational Data Analytics Group has made its Piranha data analytics system available to other agencies. This system has aided medical researchers in discovering a link that can alert doctors to aortic aneurysms before they occur. It is also used for more routine tasks, such as filtering through resumes to connect job candidates with hiring managers.
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