Fern Halper's data makes the world go 'round
the big wide world of data and analytics
Advanced analytics is being deployed in a range of use cases across business units and industries, especially as data types and volume increase. One of the top use cases for advanced analytics we see at TDWI is predictive analytics to understand customer or operational behavior. Statistical as well as machine learning models are used to … Continue reading How mature is your advanced analytics program?
There are organizational and technology components critical for a business to succeed in becoming data-driven. On the organizational side, a key component to succeeding with data and analytics is to create a culture that supports these efforts. Companies that succeed are typically goal-driven, transparent, empowering, and collaborative. They have strong leadership that believes in data … Continue reading 5 Best Practices for Building a program to become data-driven
TDWI research indicates that if users stuck to their plans around predictive analytics, adoption would be at 75–80% versus the 35–40% we currently see. Predictive analytics is on the cusp of widespread adoption. Many organizations are excited to make use of the power of predictive analytics (including machine learning) because they understand the … Continue reading The Predictive Analytics Conundrum
Dave Stodder and I just finished writing our 4Q Best Practices Report on “What it Takes to Be Data-Driven: Technologies and Practices for Becoming a Smarter Organization.” What struck me in analyzing the data for the report is that although organizations have embraced BI and analytics, they still have a journey in front of them … Continue reading Three Organizational Best Practices for Becoming Data-Driven
I am excited to announce I’m a co-author of Big Data for Dummies which will be released in mid-April 2013. Here’s the synopsis from Wiley: Find the right big data solution for your business or organization Big data management is one of the major challenges facing business, industry, and not-for-profit organizations. Data sets such as … Continue reading Two Weeks and Counting to Big Data for Dummies
While text analytics is considered a "must have" technology by the majority of companies that use it, challenges abound. So I've learned from the many companies I've talked to as I prepare Hurwitz & Associates' Victory Index for Text Analytics,a tool that assesses not just the technical capability of the technology but its ability to … Continue reading Five Challenges for Text Analytics
This week marks the one year anniversary of the IBM Watson computer system succeeding at Jeopardy!. Since then, IBM has gotten a lot of interest in Watson. Companies want one of those. But what exactly is Watson and what makes it unique? What does it mean to have a Watson? And, how is commercial Watson … Continue reading Are you ready for IBM Watson?
Next in my discussion of big data providers is IBM. Big data plays right into IBM’s portfolio of solutions in the information management space. It also dove tails very nicely with the company’s Smarter Planet strategy. Smarter Planet holds the vision of the world as a more interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent place. IBM’s Smarter Cities … Continue reading Four Vendor Views on Big Data and Big Data Analytics: IBM
I am often asked whether it is the vendors or the end users who are driving the Big Data market. I usually reply that both are. There are early adopters of any technology that push the vendors to evolve their own products and services. The vendors then show other companies what can be done with … Continue reading Four Vendor Views on Big Data and Big Data Analytics Part 1: Attensity
I just finished testing two low cost (<$50.00/mo) social media monitoring tools. They were both easy to use with clean user interfaces. Both had some nice features, especially around reaching back out to people making comments in social media. However, running these two services side by side brought home some issues with these kinds of … Continue reading Five basic questions to ask before leaping into low cost social media monitoring
