News
The Algo Economy: The secret weapon to a successful business
July 2016 by Phil Codd, Managing Director at SQS
With an expected 20.8 billion connected things to be in existence by 2020[1] these
devices are producing data at an astonishing rate here in the UK. The Internet of
Things (IoT) is having an increasing impact upon our ever-evolving lives. However,
what many take for granted is the fact that algorithms are at the heart of the
devices generating this data. Algorithms are essential to the running of everyday
products, from the brakes in your car to trades on the stock exchange, creating our
economy’s secret weapon of success and mass destruction in equal measure if risks
aren’t mitigated for.
Behind the invisible cogs lies hidden value. In the wise words of Peter Sondergaard,
Senior VP of Gartner: "Data is inherently dumb - algorithms are where the real value
lies. Algorithms define action". Knowledge is power, and algorithmic data analytics
unlocks that power, meaning businesses are able to maximise on data driven decision
management. In turn, they can keep ahead within a competitive landscape, where an
ill-informed decision could be costly to both reputation and profitability.
In order to ensure the worst doesn’t happen, businesses must have experts in place
who can analyse and manipulate the right algorithms to produce the most beneficial
actionable data, to unlock its future success. Once a high level of understanding is
gained, businesses can capitalise even further by sharing algorithm assets through
open sourcing these across the market place. Many company’s may be reluctant to
share such assets, but sharing can be useful as this will co-dependently enable you
to benefit from feedback and improve your original algorithmic assets as a whole.
An important area we must address is the fact that with the booming algorithmic
economy that has been created around IoT, there also comes an increased risk of
cyber attacks. Individuals with malicious attempts could tamper algorithms and
essentially bring a business to its knees. Ensuring security is considered as a
crucial factor when developing algorithms is imperative to preventing such
situations. The complexities of today’s threats means it is no longer viable to
simply add on a security layer at the end and rely on testing just before the
project goes live - this is too little, too late.
Given the importance of security in today’s interconnected IT landscape, most
software development lifecycle models require security checks to be present at all
stages. This ensures security is baked-in from the beginning, but we also need to
recognise that security is not a static attribute of quality and once software is
released its security must be continuously reviewed to ensure that it is not
affected by newly discovered vulnerabilities. By doing so businesses can unlock the
true benefits of the increasingly algorithmic economy, whilst mitigating the risks.
