Analytic Requirements of a Modern Database
Analytic requirements are broad, varied and valuable. More than nine in 10 (91%) participants in our research reported that analytics technology has improved their organization’s activities and processes. Organizations have a wide variety of analytics needs ranging from dashboards and visualization to artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Not only do organizations need to analyze structured data, but nearly one-half (45%) also consider unstructured data such as text, audio, images and video important and nearly one-third (31%) consider semi-structured machine data such as log files important. And, six in 10 (60%) are analyzing streaming data currently or planning to do so within the next 12 months.
Even as analytical requirements have grown, robust SQL capabilities and skills remain the cornerstone of most analytics processes. The most common technologies in use are relational databases, which are in production at nearly eight in 10 (79%) organizations. Part of the reason for the dominance of relational technologies is the prevalence of SQL skills in organizations. Nearly every participant (98%) in our research indicated that SQL skills were necessary to successfully use data, with almost two-thirds (61%) indicating they already possessed those skills. The prevalence of relational technologies also creates a large ecosystem of data and analytics tools that organizations can employ.