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?
Today, I participated in a webinar with Actuate on the skills needed for business analysts to perform predictive modeling. This is a hot topic and there were hundreds of participants on the call. In my part of the presentation, I outlined some major trends in predictive analytics (including the fact that the tools are much easier… Continue reading Six skills for predictive analytics
My new (and first!) TDWI Best Practices Report was published a few weeks ago. It is called Predictive Analytics for Business Advantage. In it, I use the results from an online survey together with some qualitative interviews to discuss the state of predictive analytics, where it is going, and some best practices to get there. You… Continue reading Four ways to illustrate the value of predictive analytics
The TDWI Big Data Maturity Model and Assessment is set to launch November 20th. Krish Krishnan and I have been working on this for a while, and we’re very excited about it. There are two parts to the Big Data Maturity Model and Assessment tool. The first is the actual TDWI Big Data Maturity Model… Continue reading Three entry points for big data initiatives
I am in the process of gathering survey data for the TDWI Predictive Analytics Best Practices Report. Right now, I’m in the data analysis phase. It turns out (not surprisingly) that one of the biggest barriers to adoption of predictive analytics is understanding how the technology works. Education is definitely needed as more advanced forms… Continue reading Deathtrap: Overlearning in Predictive Analytics
I just listened to an interesting IBM Google hangout about big data called Visions of Big Data’s future. You can watch it here. There were some great experts on the line including James Kobelius (IBM), Thomas Deutsch (IBM), and Ed Dumbill (Silicon Valley Data Science). The moderator, David Pittman, asked a fantastic question, “What’s taking… Continue reading Big Data’s Future/Big Data’s Past
It’s a good day. Our new book, Big Data for Dummies, is being released today and I’m busy working on a Big Data Analytics maturity model at TDWI with Krish Krishnan. Krish, a faculty member at TDWI, is actually presenting some of the model at the TDWI World Conference: Big Data Tipping Point taking place… Continue reading Two Big Data Resources Worth Exploring
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?
Fern Halper's data makes the world go 'round 