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around the world at unimaginable speeds.
Because of the nature of the internet
and the speedwithwhich information can
travel (as opposed to traditional forms of
information or resource sharing), the data
that moves around is not only large, but
quick as well.
The sooner local SMEs realise the
burgeoning, unbridled potential of Big
Data and its analysis, the sooner they are
able to see benefits and leverage on the
competitive advantage.
Visit www.BigDataAnalytics.my to find out
more about how you can get involved with
Big Data in Malaysia.
Key Points
MDeC is focusing on three areas
when it comes to BDA:
•
Proliferating usage of BDA in all
sectors
•
Catalysingadoptionandusageof
BDA inpublic sector
•
Building the BDA industry in Ma-
laysia
Short-term target is to kick-start
BDA priorities through:
•
Frameworks
•
Pilot government projects
•
Private sector projects
Long-term targets:
•
Buildstrongtalentandskill sets in
BDAsegments
•
BuildingsustainableNationalBDA
initiatives
•
VibrantPublic–PrivateBDAinitia-
tives
•
Leadership inBDA
•
Widespreaduseof BDA
Keymilestones for 2014:
•
Develop thenational BDA frame-
work
•
Four government-initiated BDA
pilot projects – crime prevention,
sentiment analysis, infectious
diseaseprevention, pricewatch
•
To kick-start BDA for Private
Sector through fund/seed BDA
projects, BDA-related events
suchasconferences,workshops,
hackathons and awareness pro-
grammes, amongst others.
FireFlyz | 49
tive technology that is being pushed for
adoption under the Digital Malaysia Plan,
the national initiative to advance the
country towards a vibrant digital economy
by 2020.”
Digital Malaysia will achieve this by
creating an ecosystem that promotes the
pervasive use of Digital Technology in all
aspects of the economy. This will include
connecting communities globally and in
real-time, in order to increase the nation’s
Gross National Income (GNI), enhance
productivity and improve standards of
living.
Collectively, Digital Malaysia aims
to achieve the following: the creation of
160,000 high value jobs, increase Malay-
sia’s ICT contribution from 9.8% to 17%,
provide an additional 1% SME contribu-
tion to GDP and create an additional
RM7,000 of digital income per annum for
350,000 Citizens.
Quick Gains
Recognising the importance and ramifica-
tions of BDA, the Malaysian Government
has embarked on an initiative to develop
BDA Pilot Applications. As of now, it has
four key applications:
• Price Watch
• Sentiment Analysis
• Crime Prevention
• Infectious Diseases Forecasting
With Price Watching, it is easier to
reduce profiteering due to policy changes,
especially with the implementation of
nation-wide changes such as the GST
(Goods & Services Tax – a progressive tax
system to be implemented on April 1, 2015
inMalaysia). It will be led by the KPDNKK
(Ministry of Domestic Trade andConsumer
Affairs) and it is expected to predict optimal
pricing and maintain a price position by
analysing price and demand elasticity.
With Sentiment Analysis, the KKMM
(Ministry of Communications & Multime-
dia) can quickly gauge public perception
and feedback on certain topics, so that
the government is better able to make
informed decisions to address the wellbe-
ing of the people.
The Government of Malaysia also
recognises the valuable insights that BDA
can offer in crime prevention. With KDN
(Home Ministry) leading this effort, crime
root cause and trend analyses can be
done and law enforcement resources can
be more efficiently optimised, leading to
reduced crime rates across the country.
Similar to the IBM-Johns Hopkins ex-
ample, Malaysia aims to use BDA to predict
outbreak probability and hotspot locations
in order to reduce dengue incidences and
fatalities. The leading agencywould be the
KKM (Ministry of Health).
Making BDA work for you
Have you ever wondered why Facebook
can seem to “intuitively” curate relevant
content on your news feed? You search the
web for a new oven and suddenly you see
news about ovens on your news feed. You
are heavily involved in political dialogue
and of late, you notice that Facebook
recommends you to “like so and so politi-
cian’s page”.
Such is the power of analytics. Facebook
is able to predict, with almost startling
accuracy, not just what kind of oven you
want but brands you might be interested
in by using analytical tools to scrutinise the
data it receives fromyour user end actions.
In terms of driving business in the
economy, the internet is thriving and
bustling with information. Data is being
transmitted in and out ofmillions of servers
through billions of computers, travelling
Ahmad Shabery … “The explosion of data
does not mean much if businesses are not
capturing, integrating and analysing the
wealth of data to uncover new insights.”
Karl Ng … “MDeC clearly understands the
massive potential and applicability of BDA
to drive national economic growth for the
nation.”