ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

Data-Driven Agenda for Organizations

Posted by Matt Aslett on 21 July 2022

When joining Ventana Research, I noted that the need to be more data-driven has become a mantra among large and small organizations alike. Data-driven organizations stand to gain competitive advantage, responding faster to worker and customer demands for more innovative, data-rich applications and personalized experiences. Being data-driven is clearly something to aspire to. However, it is also a...

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, natural language processing, data lakes, data operations, Streaming Analytics, Streaming Data Events, Analytics and Data, AI and Machine Learning

Ahana Offers Managed-Services Approach to Simplify Presto Adoption

Posted by Matt Aslett on 29 June 2022

I previously described the concept of hydroanalytic data platforms, which combine the structured data processing and analytics acceleration capabilities associated with data warehousing with the low-cost and multi-structured data storage advantages of the data lake. One of the key enablers of this approach is interactive SQL query engine functionality, which facilitates the use of existing...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, data operations, Analytics and Data, AI and Machine Learning

Dremio Embraces Data Lakehouse with Cloud Launch

Posted by Matt Aslett on 24 June 2022

I previously explained how the data lakehouse is one of two primary approaches being adopted to deliver what I have called a hydroanalytic data platform. Hydroanalytics involves the combination of data warehouse and data lake functionality to enable and accelerate analysis of data in cloud storage services. The term data lakehouse has been rapidly adopted by several vendors in recent years to...

Topics: business intelligence, Analytics, Data, data lakes

Real-Time Data Processing Requires More Agile Data Pipelines

Posted by Matt Aslett on 26 April 2022

I recently wrote about the importance of data pipelines and the role they play in transporting data between the stages of data processing and analytics. Healthy data pipelines are necessary to ensure data is integrated and processed in the sequence required to generate business intelligence. The concept of the data pipeline is nothing new of course, but it is becoming increasingly important as...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, Digital transformation, data lakes, data operations, Streaming Data Events, Analytics and Data, AI and Machine Learning

Starburst Accelerates Analysis of Distributed Data

Posted by Matt Aslett on 12 April 2022

I recently described the growing level of interest in data mesh which provides an organizational and cultural approach to data ownership, access and governance that facilitates distributed data processing. As I stated in my Analyst Perspective, data mesh is not a product that can be acquired or even a technical architecture that can be built. Adopting the data mesh approach is dependent on people...

Topics: Business Continuity, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, Analytics and Data

The Benefits of Data Mesh Extend to Organizational and Cultural Change

Posted by Matt Aslett on 29 March 2022

Data mesh is the latest trend to grip the data and analytics sector. The term has been rapidly adopted by numerous vendors — as well as a growing number of organizations —as a means of embracing distributed data processing. Understanding and adopting data mesh remains a challenge, however. Data mesh is not a product that can be acquired, or even a technical architecture that can be built. It is...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, Digital transformation, data lakes, data operations, Streaming Data Events, Analytics and Data

Bigeye Provides Visibility into Data Reliability

Posted by Matt Aslett on 01 March 2022

As businesses become more data-driven, they are increasingly dependent on the quality of their data and the reliability of their data pipelines. Making decisions based on data does not guarantee success, especially if the business cannot ensure that the data is accurate and trustworthy. While there is potential value in capturing all data — good or bad — making decisions based on low-quality data...

Topics: Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, data operations, Analytics and Data

Data Observability is Key to Ensuring Healthy Data Pipelines

Posted by Matt Aslett on 22 February 2022

I recently described the emergence of hydroanalytic data platforms, outlining how the processes involved in generating energy from a lake or reservoir were analogous to those required to generate intelligence from a data lake. I explained how structured data processing and analytics acceleration capabilities are the equivalent of turbines, generators and transformers in a hydroelectric power...

Topics: Analytics, Data Governance, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, data operations, Streaming Data Events, AI and Machine Learning

Incorta Unifies Data Processing to Accelerate Analytics & BI

Posted by Matt Aslett on 16 February 2022

As I stated when joining Ventana Research, the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic and its aftereffects have highlighted more than ever the differences between organizations that can turn data into insights and are agile enough to act upon it and those that are incapable of seeing or responding to the need for change. Data-driven organizations stand to gain competitive advantage, responding...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Data, data lakes, data operations, Streaming Data Events, AI and Machine Learning

AtScale Universal Semantic Layer Democratizes and Scales Analytics

Posted by David Menninger on 10 February 2022

Organizations of all sizes are dealing with exponentially increasing data volume and data sources, which creates challenges such as siloed information, increased technical complexities across various systems and slow reporting of important business metrics. Migrating to the cloud does not solve the problems associated with performing analytics and business intelligence on data stored in disparate...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Data, data lakes, data operations, Streaming Analytics, AI and Machine Learning

Managing Data Effectively in 2022: Ventana Research Market Agenda

Posted by Matt Aslett on 01 February 2022

Ventana Research recently announced its 2022 Market Agenda for Data, continuing the guidance we have offered for nearly two decades to help organizations derive optimal value and improve business outcomes.

Topics: Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, data lakes, data operations, Streaming Data Events

ThoughtSpot Enables Simpler Analytics with AI and NLP

Posted by David Menninger on 21 January 2022

Organizations today have huge volumes of data across various cloud and on-premises systems which keep growing by the second. To derive value from this data, organizations must query the data regularly and share insights with relevant teams and departments. Automating this process using natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) enables...

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Data, natural language processing, data lakes, data operations, AI and Machine Learning

Hydroanalytic Data Platforms Power Data Lakes’ Strategic Value

Posted by Matt Aslett on 23 December 2021

Data lakes have enormous potential as a source of business intelligence. However, many early adopters of data lakes have found that simply storing large amounts of data in a data lake environment is not enough to generate business intelligence from that data. Similarly, lakes and reservoirs have enormous potential as sources of energy. However, simply storing large amounts of water in a lake is...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, data operations, AI and Machine Learning

Data Platforms Landscape Divided Between Analytic and Operational

Posted by Matt Aslett on 14 December 2021

As I noted when joining Ventana Research, the range of options faced by organizations in relation to data processing and analytics can be bewildering. When it comes to data platforms, however, there is one fundamental consideration that comes before all others: Is the workload primarily operational or analytic? Although most database products can be used for operational or analytic workloads, the...

Topics: business intelligence, Analytics, Data, data lakes, data operations, AI and Machine Learning

TIBCO Broadens Portfolio for Improved Analytics Efficiency

Posted by David Menninger on 30 November 2021

TIBCO is a large, independent cloud-computing and data analytics software company that offers integration, analytics, business intelligence and events processing software. It enables organizations to analyze streaming data in real time and provides the capability to automate analytics processes. It offers more than 200 connectors, more than 200 enterprise cloud computing and application adapters,...

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Information Management, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

The Potential for Hybrid and Multicloud Platforms to Safeguard Data

Posted by Matt Aslett on 24 November 2021

It has been clear for some time that future enterprise IT architecture will span multiple cloud providers as well as on-premises data centers. As Ventana Research noted in the market perspective on data architectures, the rapid adoption of cloud computing has fragmented where data is accessed or consolidated. We are already seeing that almost one-half (49%) of respondents to Ventana Research’s...

Topics: Data, data lakes, data operations

Talend Data Fabric Simplifies Data Life Cycle Management

Posted by David Menninger on 16 November 2021

Talend is a data integration and management software company that offers applications for cloud computing, big data integration, application integration, data quality and master data management. The platform enables personnel to work with relational databases, Apache Hadoop, Spark and NoSQL databases for cloud or on-premises jobs. Talend data integration software offers an open and scalable...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Google Cloud Advances to Multi-Cloud

Posted by Matt Aslett on 11 November 2021

Enterprises looking to adopt cloud-based data processing and analytics face a disorienting array of data storage, data processing, data management and analytics offerings. Departmental autonomy, shadow IT, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic choices mean that most enterprises now have the need to manage data across multiple locations, while each of the major cloud providers and data and...

Topics: Analytics, Cloud Computing, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes, data operations, AI and Machine Learning

Databricks Lakehouse Platform Streamlines Big Data Processing

Posted by David Menninger on 26 October 2021

Databricks is a data engineering and analytics cloud platform built on top of Apache Spark that processes and transforms huge volumes of data and offers data exploration capabilities through machine learning models. It can enable data engineers, data scientists, analysts and other workers to process big data and unify analytics through a single interface. The platform supports streaming data, SQL...

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Information Management, Data, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Data Virtualization Brings Data Together Quickly and Easily

Posted by David Menninger on 07 October 2021

The technology industry throws around a lot of similar terms with different meanings as well as entirely different terms with similar meanings. In this post, I don’t want to debate the meanings and origins of different terms; rather, I’d like to highlight a technology weapon that you should have in your data management arsenal. We currently refer to this technology as data virtualization. Other...

Topics: Analytics, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data, Digital Technology, data lakes

Collibra Brings Effective Data Governance to Line-of-Business

Posted by David Menninger on 28 September 2021

Collibra is a data governance software company that offers tools for metadata management and data cataloging. The software enables organizations to find data quickly, identify its source and assure its integrity. Line-of-business workers can use it to create, review and update the organization's policies on different data assets. Collibra’s software uses a microservice architecture and open...

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Rapidminer Platform Supports Entire Data Science Lifecycle

Posted by David Menninger on 16 September 2021

Rapidminer is a visual enterprise data science platform that includes data extraction, data mining, deep learning, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and predictive analytics. It can support AI/ML processes with data preparation, model validation, results visualization and model optimization. Rapidminer Studio is its visual workflow designer for the creation of predictive...

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Preparation, Data, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Informatica Earns Data Digital Innovation Award for 2021

Posted by David Menninger on 01 September 2021

The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications, as well as technology that contributes significantly to the improved processes and performance of an organization. Our goal is to recognize technology and vendors that have introduced noteworthy digital innovations to advance business and IT.

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, Digital Technology, blockchain, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Reltio Earns Marketing Digital Innovation Award for 2021

Posted by Keith Dawson on 12 August 2021

The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications, as well as technology that contributes significantly to the improved processes and performance of an organization. Our goal is to recognize technology and vendors that have introduced noteworthy digital innovations to advance business and IT.

Topics: Voice of the Customer, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, Product Information Management, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, blockchain, data lakes, intelligent marketing

Palantir Earns Overall Digital Innovation Award for 2021

Posted by Mark Smith on 04 August 2021

The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications, as well as technology that contributes significantly to the improved processes and performance of an organization. Our goal is to recognize technology and vendors that have introduced noteworthy digital innovations to advance business and IT.

Topics: Customer Experience, Human Capital Management, Marketing, Office of Finance, Voice of the Customer, Continuous Planning, embedded analytics, Learning Management, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Internet of Things, Business Planning, Contact Center, Data, Product Information Management, Sales Performance Management, Workforce Management, Financial Performance Management, Price and Revenue Management, Digital Technology, Digital Marketing, Digital Commerce, Operations & Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Revenue, blockchain, natural language processing, data lakes, Total Compensation Management, robotic finance, Predictive Planning, employee experience, candidate engagement, Conversational Computing, Continuous Payroll, collaborative computing, mobile computing, continuous supply chain, Subscription Management, agent management, extended reality, intelligent marketing, sales enablement, work experience management, robotic automation, AI and Machine Learning, lease and tax accounting

Why Your Data Lake Needs Bad Data

Posted by David Menninger on 13 May 2021

Everyone talks about data quality, as they should. Our research shows that improving the quality of information is the top benefit of data preparation activities. Data quality efforts are focused on clean data. Yes, clean data is important. but so is bad data. To be more accurate, the original data as recorded by an organization’s various devices and systems is important.

Topics: Data Governance, Data Preparation, Data, Information Management (IM), data lakes

Incorta Streamlines Analytics with Direct Data Access

Posted by David Menninger on 21 April 2021

The amount of data flowing into organizations is growing exponentially, creating a need to process more data more quickly than ever before. Our Data Preparation Benchmark Research shows that accessing and preparing data continues to be the most time-consuming part of making data available for analysis. This can potentially slow down the organizational functions which depend on the analysis...

Topics: business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Data, Information Management (IM), data lakes

Data in 2021: Ventana Research Market Agenda

Posted by David Menninger on 26 February 2021

Ventana Research recently announced its 2021 Market Agenda for data, continuing the guidance we have offered for nearly two decades to help organizations derive optimal value and improve business outcomes.

Topics: Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, data lakes, Streaming Data, data operations, Event Data, Data catalog, Event Streams, Event Stream Processing

Introducing Precisely for Data Integrity

Posted by David Menninger on 25 January 2021

Data is becoming more valuable and more important to organizations. At the same time, organizations have become more disciplined about the data on which they rely to ensure it is robust, accurate and governed properly. Without data integrity, organizations cannot trust the information produced by their data processes, and will be discouraged from using that data, resulting in inefficiencies and...

Topics: business intelligence, Analytics, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, data lakes

Cloudera Consolidates Its Data Platform

Posted by David Menninger on 22 January 2021

Organizations are dealing with exponentially increasing data that ranges broadly from customer-generated information, financial transactions, edge-generated data and even operational IT server logs. A combination of complex data lake and data warehouse capabilities are required to leverage this data. Our research shows that nearly three-quarters of organizations deploy both data lakes and data...

Topics: PROS Pricing, embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Snowflake Builds on Its Success

Posted by David Menninger on 15 January 2021

Traditional on-premises data processing solutions have led to a hugely complex and expensive set of data silos where IT spends more time managing the infrastructure than extracting value from the data. Big data architectures have attempted to solve the problem with large pools of cost-effective storage, but in doing so have often created on-premises management and administration challenges. These...

Topics: embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Data, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Emerging Data Platforms Tackle Big Challenges

Posted by David Menninger on 14 January 2021

Organizations are always looking to improve their ability to use data and AI to gain meaningful and actionable insights into their operations, services and customer needs. But unlocking value from data requires multiple analytics workloads, data science tools and machine learning algorithms to run against the same diverse data sets. Organizations still struggle with limited data visibility and...

Topics: business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Data, Information Management (IM), data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Data Lakes Meet Data Warehouses

Posted by David Menninger on 07 May 2020

In this analyst perspective, Dave Menninger takes a look at data lakes. He explains the term “data lake,” describes common use cases and shares his views on some of the latest market trends. He explores the relationship between data warehouses and data lakes and share some of Ventana Research’s findings on the subject. He also provides an assessment of the risks organizations face in working with...

Topics: Big Data, Data Warehousing, Analytics, Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Management, Data Preparation, data lakes

Five Modern Data Architecture Trends

Posted by David Menninger on 30 March 2020

I was recently asked to identify key modern data architecture trends. Data architectures have changed significantly to accommodate larger volumes of data as well as new types of data such as streaming and unstructured data. Here are some of the trends I see continuing to impact data architectures.

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Data, Information Management (IM), Digital Technology, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Data in 2020: Ventana Research Agenda

Posted by David Menninger on 21 February 2020

Ventana Research recently announced its 2020 research agenda for data, continuing the guidance we’ve offered for nearly two decades to help organizations derive optimal value and improve business outcomes. Data volumes continue to grow while data latency requirements continue to shrink. Meanwhile, virtually every organization is confronting a need for good data governance.

Topics: Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Data, blockchain, data lakes

A 360-Degree View of the Customer Journey Can Provide Customer Experience Insights

Posted by Mark Smith on 07 November 2019

For interactions with customers to go well, organizations must manage an ever-increasing array of engagement channels. Our research finds that organizations expect to see interaction volumes increase on all channels, especially digital ones such as text-based messaging, chat, mobile and social apps. Unfortunately, the systems that manage these channels are typically disparate and uncoordinated...

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Internet of Things, Contact Center, Data, Digital Technology, Digital Commerce, blockchain, natural language processing, data lakes, Intelligent CX, Subscription Management, agent management, extended reality, AI and Machine Learning

Technology Really Does Matter for Customer Analytics

Posted by Mark Smith on 05 November 2019

Using customer analytics effectively involves several challenges. Organizations must make it a business priority, cultivate leadership and set a course for ensuring data and analytics are being processed and governed effectively. But effectiveness also requires technology that will assist in the effective operations and management of customers and help an organization achieve its goals.

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, embedded analytics, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Contact Center, Data, Digital Technology, Digital Commerce, blockchain, natural language processing, data lakes, Intelligent CX, Conversational Computing, collaborative computing, mobile computing, Subscription Management, agent management, extended reality, AI and Machine Learning

The Challenges in Customer Analytics

Posted by Mark Smith on 22 October 2019

Today’s intense competition requires that companies know as much as they can about their customers in order to anticipate their needs and deliver a superior customer experience. However, many organizations struggle to do this well. Implementing initiatives to improve customer value across any department or process involving customers requires both in-depth visibility into current operations and...

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Internet of Things, Contact Center, Data, Digital Commerce, blockchain, natural language processing, data lakes, Intelligent CX, Conversational Computing, collaborative computing, mobile computing, Subscription Management, agent management, extended reality, AI and Machine Learning

Dynamic Insights Research on Sales Analytics Guides Innovation, not Evolution

Posted by Mark Smith on 04 October 2019

Having effective analytics enables businesses to understand far better than ever before the data they’re collecting, and to do so in greater volumes and more forms. These new capabilities are especially relevant to sales organizations. When applied to sales data, analytics can help sales teams achieve quotas and forecast more consistently, as well as understand the impacts of incentives and...

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Internet of Things, Contact Center, Data, Digital Technology, Digital Commerce, blockchain, natural language processing, data lakes, Intelligent CX, Subscription Management, agent management, AI and Machine Learning

Data Management on Display at Informatica World 2019

Posted by David Menninger on 12 June 2019

This year, I attended Informatica World 2019, Informatica's annual user conference. The main focus this year was on the cloud with a heavy does of AI. Under that focus, Informatica's conference emphasized capabilities across six areas (all strong areas for Informatica): data integration, data management, data quality & governance, Master Data Management (MDM), data cataloging, and data security.

Topics: Big Data, Data Quality, Master Data Management, Data Governance, Data Management, Informatica, data lakes, Informatica World, Data Storage

The Internet of Things: Real-Time Data and Analytics Enable Business Innovation

Posted by David Menninger on 20 May 2019

The emerging internet of things (IoT) is an extension of digital connectivity to devices and sensors in homes, businesses, vehicles and potentially almost anywhere. This innovation means that virtually any appropriately designed device can generate and transmit data about its operations, which can facilitate monitoring and a range of automatic functions. To do this IoT requires a set of...

Topics: business intelligence, embedded analytics, Analytics, Collaboration, Internet of Things, Data, Information Management (IM), Digital Technology, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

Big Data for Business: A Requirement for Today’s Business Analytics

Posted by David Menninger on 13 May 2019

Organizations now must store, process and use data of significantly greater volume and variety than in the past. These factors plus the velocity of data today — the unrelentingly rapid rate at which it is generated, both in enterprise systems and on the internet — add to the challenge of getting the data into a form that can be used for business tasks.

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, Data Preparation, Information Management, Internet of Things, Data, Digital Technology, blockchain, data lakes, AI and Machine Learning

News and Announcements from Tableau and TC18

Posted by David Menninger on 21 November 2018

Once again I attended Tableau's Users Conference, along with 17,000 other attendees, affectionately self-referred to as "data nerds". Pushing the envelope in data capabilities and access, Tableau introduced the "Ask Data" feature, allowing users to prose natural language queries and receive a response, along with new data preparation capabilities and other enhancements to help data analysts....

Topics: Big Data, Data Governance, Data Integration, Data Preparation, Tableau Software, data lakes