Regulating Through Big Data: a GVG webinar
On 27 October, GVG hosted a webinar aiming to analyze the power of big data as a regulatory tool, for the benefit of its already-existing clients and partners, as well as of other interested stakeholders. Among other topics, the webinar addressed how Big Data is transforming decision-making at a regulatory and government level, as well as the contribution of Global Voice Group’s digital solutions to optimize the value of data for governments and authorities, with the ultimate goal to guarantee the safety and compliance of emerging countries’ telecom and digital financial services ecosystems.
Regulatory bodies play a key role in the development of the economy and in the creation of an inclusive digital economy. However, they require accurate and reliable data in order to make the informed decisions that will enable them to fulfill this crucial mandate. The purpose of GVG’s webinar was to support initiatives that enable the sustainable development of Big data through data collection and analysis technologies such as those GVG provides to its clients. Such tools make it possible to extract meaning from huge volumes of unstructured data to bring value to governments and authorities, and help the latter address issues such as the lack of visibility, the lack of security and need for enhanced revenue mobilization.
After welcoming remarks by our CEO, James Claude, the webinar featured interventions by members of our management team, in the form of detailed presentations concerning GVG’s core solutions and the benefits and challenges of harnessing Big Data to enable strategic decision-making. In addition to this, it offered a selection of insights from distinguished guests, Major Patrick Nyirishema, Director General of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) and client of GVG since 2012, as well as Mr. Lacina Koné, Director General of Smart Africa, one of GVG’s partners in the drive for Africa’s digital transformation.
Major Nyirishema explained to the audience how RURA’s ability to collect and interpret the data stemming from the telecom sector helped the authority convince the telecom companies to lower the cost of electronic transactions during the lockdown, with a view to encouraging the population to go cashless. Mr. Lacina Koné, for his part, highlighted the need for data literacy training as the main challenge African countries are currently facing in their drive to obtain actionable information for decision-making purposes.
The current health and economic crisis has further stressed the need to regulate and secure the telecom sector and the digital transaction ecosystem, a crucial task which falls to governments and the relevant regulatory bodies. As James Claude stated in closing, “[w]e all agreed that the ICT is moving very fast. There are no excuses for the regulators to be left behind.” Through this webinar, GVG wishes to make decision-makers aware of the urgent need to equip themselves with the right RegTech tools to leverage Big Data as a way of optimizing the governance of the telecom and financial sectors.
Want to read about GVG’s participation in the Africa CEO Forum Webinar about “Leveraging data-driven innovation”? Click here.
