What’s New in the 2014 Gartner Magic Quadrants for Business Intelligence and Analytics?
Follow Break out the popcorn and the lemonade folks, it’s that time of year again! A few days ago, Gartner released its 2014 Magic Quadrants — an analysis of business intelligence and analytics software – and this year is a doozy. The business intelligence and analytics software marketplace has, in my opinion, been a bit of a mess for the last few years. Reporting, data visualization and statistical inference have been hot on enterprise IT roadmaps – and there’s been no shortage of vendors out there offering software packages to handle those functions — but the...
Read MoreDataClear’s Top 5 Data Analytics Blog Posts of 2013
Follow As the year draws to a close, we’re also closing out our first quarter of blogging about data analytics. In this short time, we’ve managed to cover many of the basic elements of data analytics for businesses, as well as how data analytics can help with specific business areas. We’ve also brought you the biggest stories in data analytics news each week to help you keep on top of what’s happening in this rapidly advancing discipline. Moving into 2014, we’ll continue to stay on top of the news and let you know how things are advancing and changing in...
Read MoreHow to Get Started With Data Analytics
Follow There’s a lot of buzz in the marketplace today about Big Data, business intelligence and data analytics – and a lot of confusion. One of the biggest misconceptions about analytics – and all of these these can be lumped under the term “analytics” — is that it’s some kind of software package you have to purchase, or that it requires the launch of huge software project. While those things are important for some organizations, they’re not always necessary – nor are they among the first things you’ll want to take on if you’re going to get...
Read MoreWhat Are Business Experiments?
Follow Ever wonder how big retailers such as Sears and Wal-Mart know if they can raise prices on an item and you’ll still buy it? Or how McDonald’s knows which new sandwiches they can introduce in a given market? Before the world’s best companies decide to invest in a new product, launch an advertising initiative or roll out revised pricing models, they generally test their changes first on carefully selected portions of their customer base. These types of business experiments allow companies to know how their customers will react to initiatives before they risk rolling them out...
Read More3 Common Data Quality Problems Facing Data Analytics Projects
Follow When I start an analytics project for a new client, I usually get a few laughs when I talk about the need for data cleansing. “We have dirty data? How on earth did we ever survive?” The truth is that the systems we use to record information often are as imperfect as the people who enter the data and maintain the systems and as such are subject to a variety of data quality problems. Before I build the first graph on a new project, I have to put on my archaeologist hat and figure out how consistent and uniform the data sources available to me are, and then fix any mistakes that...
Read More5 Tips for Reporting and Analytics Projects
Follow I’ve spent a lot of my career leading or supporting reporting and analytics teams, and unfortunately, I’ve seen plenty of projects drag on long past their estimated completion dates, killing budgets and frustrating business leaders. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Here are five ways to increase your chances of building reporting and analytics tools that decision makers will trust – and want to use – on time and on budget. Designate a Business Owner for Each Report or Analytic There’s a reason universities offer four-year degrees in accounting and finance:...
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