Business

Big data expert brings digital message to Belfast

Andrew Grill will be speaking in Belfast next week
Andrew Grill will be speaking in Belfast next week Andrew Grill will be speaking in Belfast next week

ONE of the world's leading thinkers on harnessing digital technology to enhance business will be in Belfast next week where he will tell conference delegates about the benefits of big data.

Australian-born Andrew Grill travels the world for computer giant IBM as its global managing partner in consultative sales.

And he's the keynote speaker at the Big Data Breakouts conference in Titanic Belfast next Thursday.

Mr Grill, described as an "internationally renowned thought leader", will talk about the next stage in using big data, which he said is a move into cognitive computer intelligence.

"The next stage is cognitive," he said.

"So that is as you put data into the computer, it will actually begin to learn.

"An example of how this might work is one recently from New York where a boy presented with sore and red eyes and after six weeks of doctors looking at him and gathering data, a nurse suggested he may have had what's called Kawasaki disease.

"Using big data, that process could have been reduced to six hours."

Mr Grill - who started using emails in 1983 and designed his first website in 1994 - believes using big data and digital tools is not just the preserve of start-ups, but for all firms.

"Before joining IBM, I started six companies in eight years so I came with a start-up mentality.

"So I think you have to think like a start-up.

"It doesn't matter if you are a 100-year-old company or 100-days-old."

Before joining IBM, Mr Grill was CEO of social influence platform Kred, and presents at international conferences on a regular basis.

He previously ran Australia’s largest commercial property website, PropertyLook and has held senior marketing and business development roles with Australian telecommunications companies Telstra and Optus.

He was also responsible for launching Australian location technology company Seeker Wireless onto the world stage, moving from Sydney to London in 2006 to set up their European presence.

More recently he was head of international client strategy for WPP owned Visible Technologies.

Big Data Belfast is a one-day event that brings together players from finance, healthcare, retail, the Internet of Things and entertainment.

Other speakers include those from leading companies such as Deloitte, British Gas, Almac and Chain Reaction Cycles.