The age of big data is upon us: as a society we’re collecting more information, more quickly, and from more sources, than ever before. This round table, held in partnership with analytics provider SAS, will address the question: How can big data help to make government smarter and more efficient?
The volume and variety of data can present organisations with challenges, but there are also increasingly sophisticated ways to process and analyse this data, offering an opportunity to tap into a rich pool of evidence to help organisations make better decisions and achieve their outcomes more efficiently.
As data becomes bigger, however, government is becoming smaller. With fewer resources and an ever-present pressure to improve outcomes, departments are having to re-think the way they work, using new technologies – such as open source software and cloud-based services – and partnerships to deliver services and design policy. Big data is no exception – open-source solutions such as Hadoop can provide new ways of working while partnerships are increasingly important as departments search for the best data to support their policy design.
Big data could play a crucial role in helping departments to work more efficiently and effectively, but first they have to find a way to use that data to its best advantage.
Some of the topics to be covered will include:
- What do we mean by big data, and what ‘big data’ is most relevant to government?
- What benefits can ‘big data’ bring to organisational and service reforms?
- What impact might better use of big data have on policy- and decision-making processes within government
If you are interested in attending this discussion please RSVP to Laura Thompson on 020 7593 5621 or please email roundtables@civilservicenetwork.com