International provider of business analytics software and services, SAS, together with South Africa's North West University (NWU), plan to double up on efforts to tackle the shortage of data science skills in Africa. BMI was established to develop and produce skills needed by the country's major banks, initially focusing on risk management, now focussing on big data and data analytics. Professor Riaan de Jongh, Director of BMI at NWU said data is critical as the world is currently witnessing the fourth industrial revolution. "In South Africa, businesses understand the value of data analysis but are not yet mature enough to capitalise on the opportunities in big data and data analytics." "Typically, businesses spend a lot of money implementing systems to leverage data analytics but, until now, have only had the skills and knowledge to do reporting.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 23, 2018 12:33 UTC