Hitachi’s Bill Schmarzo: ‘IoT avalanche will open up security vulnerabilities’
Known as the ‘Dean of Big Data’, Hitachi Vantara CTO Bill Schmarzo reveals his thoughts on AI, blockchain and the internet of things.
Bill Schmarzo is CTO in charge of internet of things (IoT) and analytics at Hitachi Vantara. Prior to Hitachi, he was CTO at Dell EMC and vice-president of analytics at Yahoo.
He is the author of Big Data: Understanding How Data Powers Big Business and Big Data MBA: Driving Business Strategies with Data Science. Speaking frequently on the business value of big data and data science, he is considered the ‘Dean of Big Data’.
Schmarzo is an avid blogger and frequent speaker on the application of big data and advanced analytics to drive an organisation’s key business initiatives. He teaches at the University of San Francisco School of Management, where he is its first Executive Fellow.
In August, Schmarzo was appointed honorary professor at the JE Cairnes School of Business and Economics at NUI Galway.
He was in Dublin this week for the National Analytics Conference 2018 hosted by the Analytics Institute of Ireland at the Mansion House.
First, let’s start with a simplified definition of AI: AI is about codifying customer, product, and operational patterns and relationships (insights) in order to learn, act and/or automate.
The key components of that definition are:
AI will manifest itself in all organisations that seek to optimise key business and operational processes, mitigate compliance and security risks, uncover new monetisation opportunities, and create a differentiated customer experience.
Hitachi is one of the world’s biggest industrial companies, with more than a hundred years of operational technology (OT) knowledge. We also have more than 60 years of IT experience in storing, managing, protecting, backing up, securing and enriching data. We are now building upon that OT and IT base to integrate analytics into every aspect of an organisation’s operations.
More than 80pc of the Fortune 500 trust Hitachi Vantara for their data-driven solutions. We are the partner to help them store, protect, enrich, activate and monetise their data by accelerating insights and delivering tangible benefits. We think about this data journey along four stages we call SEAM:
Reporting to Hitachi Vantara’s chief product and strategy officer, Brad Surak, I am responsible for guiding the technology strategy for IoT and analytics within Hitachi Vantara. The expectation is that with my experience delivering advanced analytics solutions at places such as Business Objects, Yahoo and Dell EMC, I would bring a balanced business-technology approach regarding how we develop and deliver data and analytic capabilities that drive operational outcomes.
