Business Intelligence for Actionable Insights: Top BI books to Explore

Business Intelligence for Actionable Insights: Top BI books

In the fast-paced world of data-driven decision-making, having a solid understanding of BI is essential. Explore a handpicked selection of top books that cover everything a data professional needs.

In today's data-driven landscape, businesses face the ongoing challenge of deriving meaningful insights from vast amounts of data to facilitate informed decision-making. This is where the field of business intelligence (BI) becomes crucial. Business intelligence encompasses a range of processes, technologies, and strategies that empower organizations to transform raw data into valuable insights, thereby driving business success. Access to comprehensive and insightful information is critical whether you're new to the field and seeking foundational knowledge or an experienced professional aiming to enhance your skills. This article will explore a curated selection of the best business intelligence books that offer valuable knowledge, practical guidance, and strategic insights. These books cover various facets of BI, including fundamental concepts, methodologies, agile approaches, data mining techniques, and cultural considerations. By delving into these essential resources, you will learn the tools and understanding necessary to navigate the complex realm of business intelligence, harness the full potential of your organization's data assets, and propel your business forward.

1. Business Intelligence

Elizabeth Vitt, Michael Luckevich, Stacia Misner

‘Business Intelligence, 1st Edition’ presents a comprehensive approach to empower readers with the vital knowledge and expertise needed to thrive in the dynamic field of business intelligence (BI). Co-authored by Elizabeth Vitt, Michael Luckevich, and Stacia Misner, this BI book is an invaluable resource catering to both beginners and seasoned professionals within the realm of business intelligence. Setting the stage, the book lays a solid foundation by illuminating fundamental concepts in business intelligence. It adeptly demonstrates how organizations can harness the power of massive data repositories to glean invaluable business insights, enabling them to make informed decisions swiftly and effectively regarding customers, partners, and operational aspects. 'Business Intelligence' guides readers through the intricacies of leveraging business intelligence insights to seamlessly amalgamate information, individuals, and cutting-edge technologies. Armed with this knowledge, readers gain the confidence to devise and execute successful business strategies with precision.

2. Business Intelligence: Data Mining and Optimization for Decision Making

Carlo Vercellis

In the book 'Business Intelligence: Data Mining and Optimization for Decision Making,' Carlo Vercellis explores the crucial intersection between data mining, optimization techniques, and decision-making processes within the field of business intelligence. The author starts by laying the groundwork for business intelligence and introduces key concepts such as data warehousing, data mining and its applications, machine learning, supply optimization models, decision support systems, and analytical methods for performance evaluation, setting the stage for a holistic approach to business intelligence. The book emphasizes the practical application of data mining and optimization techniques through real-world examples and case studies. 'Business Intelligence: Data Mining and Optimization for Decision Making' though aimed at postgraduate students, is an essential resource for professionals and researchers interested in harnessing the power of data mining, optimization, and decision support systems.


3. Business Intelligence: An Essential Beginner’s Guide to BI

Richard Hurley

'Business Intelligence: An Essential Beginner's Guide to BI, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Machine Learning, Data Science, Data Analytics, Social Media, and Internet Marketing,' provides a comprehensive introduction to the diverse and interconnected world of modern business intelligence. As the title suggests, this business intelligence book goes beyond traditional BI and explores emerging technologies shaping the business landscape. It delves into big data, providing insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with processing and analyzing massive datasets. Hurley introduces artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and pattern recognition to explain their potential applications in driving business intelligence and decision-making. The book also addresses the critical roles that social media and internet marketing play in the growth of BI and how these platforms can be leveraged to gather valuable business intelligence insights and engage with customers effectively.


4. Business Intelligence: And How It Can Help You Grow Your Business

Johan Faerch

This book offers a practical and insightful guide to leveraging business intelligence strategies and techniques to drive business growth. This BI book is designed to empower entrepreneurs, business owners, and managers with the knowledge and tools necessary to make informed decisions and unlock the full potential of their organizations. It begins by introducing the concept of business intelligence and its significance in today's competitive marketplace and explains how BI goes beyond mere data analysis and reporting, acting as a catalyst for growth and innovation. The author highlights the transformative power of BI, demonstrating how it can provide a deep understanding of market trends, customer preferences, and internal operations. 'Business Intelligence: And How It Can Help You Grow Your Business' is a highly accessible and practical resource that bridges the gap between theory and real-world application. Johan Faerch's expertise and experience in the field, shines through as he provides valuable business intelligence insights and actionable strategies for harnessing the power of BI to achieve business growth.


5. Growing Business Intelligence

Larry Burns

'Growing Business Intelligence: An Agile Approach to Leveraging Data and Analytics for Maximum Business Value' offers a comprehensive guide to unlocking the full potential of business intelligence (BI) through an agile and adaptable framework. This BI book provides practical insights and strategies for effectively utilizing data and analytics to drive continuous growth and optimize business value. With a keen focus on core principles, the book highlights the importance of navigating the complexities of BI architecture to find the most suitable path for each unique organization. The book serves as a trusted resource, guiding readers on effectively managing the risks associated with disruptive technologies and adopting agile methodologies to deliver on the promises of BI and analytics in a rapid, concise, and iterative manner. 'Growing Business Intelligence' is an invaluable asset for business leaders, managers, and data professionals involved in BI, analytics, or Big Data projects. It also caters to organizations aiming to maximize the value derived from their data and investments in BI technology.


6 Business Intelligence: A Comprehensive Approach to Information Needs, Technologies, and Culture

Rimvydas Skyrius

'Business Intelligence: A Comprehensive Approach to Information Needs, Technologies, and Culture' by Rimvydas Skyrius delves deep into the multifaceted realm of business intelligence from various perspectives. This book looks at BI as a process driven by the synergistic blend of human capabilities and technological advancements and emphasizes the complex nature of information needs and decision-making support within organizations. It begins with a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental concepts of BI and related areas of information processing, navigating through the intricacies of BI, addressing data integration, information integration, and the processes & technologies involved. It further explores the maturity and agility of BI, delving into the components, drivers, and inhibitors of BI culture, as well as the soft factors like attention, sense, and trust that shape the BI landscape. Rimvydas, in this book, presents a holistic perspective view on business intelligence, possible structures and tradeoffs within the field of BI, providing readers with valuable insights.


7. Business Intelligence Strategy: A Practical Guide for Achieving BI Excellence

John Boyer, Bill Frank, Brian Green, Tracy Harris, Kay Van De Vanter

'Business Intelligence Strategy: A Practical Guide for Achieving BI Excellence' serves as a comprehensive and practical guide for organizations aiming to develop and implement a successful business intelligence strategy that drives excellence and delivers tangible results. The book begins by emphasizing the strategic importance of BI in modern organizations, highlighting its role in enabling informed decision-making, improving operational efficiency, and fostering a data-driven culture. It guides readers through the process of creating business alignment strategies that help prioritize business requirements, build organizational & cultural strategies, increase IT efficiency, and promote user adoption. The authors emphasize the importance of engaging stakeholders and fostering collaboration between business and IT teams to ensure the strategy's effectiveness and long-term success. 'Business Intelligence Strategy' equip readers with the right tools and strategies to develop and implement a robust BI strategy that drives excellence and delivers measurable value to their organization.


8. Fundamentals of Business Intelligence (Data-Centric Systems and Applications)

Wilfried Grossmann, Stefanie Rinderle-Ma

'Fundamentals of Business Intelligence' serves as a comprehensive and systematic introduction to the dynamic field of business intelligence , providing readers with strong foundational knowledge. This business intelligence book focuses on the transformation of process-oriented data into valuable information crucial for decision-making across diverse domains. The authors, Grossmann and Rinderle-Ma, follow a step-by-step approach to develop models and analytical tools that enable the acquisition of high-quality data structured in a manner conducive to applying complex analytical techniques. Covering a wide range of essential topics, the book delves into the fundamental concepts of business intelligence, the data-centric nature of BI, exploring various approaches to modeling in BI applications, data provisioning, data description, visualization, reporting, and more. The book seamlessly blends theoretical explanations with practical examples and compelling case studies to further enhance comprehension.


9. Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide 1st Edition

David Loshin

'Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide' is an insightful resource offering, practical guidance and strategic insight to assist managers in comprehending, implementing, and maximizing the benefits of BI. Loshin initiates the journey by clearly describing the fundamental architectural components of a business intelligence environment. Topics covered range from traditional subjects such as business process modeling and data modeling to more contemporary areas like business rule systems, data profiling, information compliance and data quality, data warehousing, and data mining. The book follows a logical progression, starting with the establishment of a robust data model infrastructure, followed by data preparation, analysis, integration, knowledge discovery, and ultimately the practical utilization of the acquired knowledge. Loshin adeptly provides clear explanations devoid of technical jargon, coupled with in-depth descriptions that articulate the business value of emerging technologies while offering the necessary introductory technical background. The true strength of this book lies in its ability to bridge the gap between technical and managerial perspectives.


10. Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide 2nd Edition

David Loshin

'Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide' by David Loshin is a comprehensive resource that equips managers with the knowledge and insights necessary to effectively navigate the field of business intelligence.The book covers the basics of a BI program, from the value of information and the mechanics of planning for success to data model infrastructure, data preparation, data analysis, integration, knowledge discovery, and the actual use of discovered knowledge. The author also explores key factors to be taken into account in the planning and execution of a successful BI program, considerations for developing a BI roadmap, the platforms for analysis, such as data warehouses, and the concepts of business metadata. 'Business Intelligence: The Savvy Manager's Guide' serves as an accessible resource for BI professionals, including senior and middle-level managers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Data Officers, senior business executives, business staff members, database or software engineers, and business analysts seeking to harness the power of BI in their organizations.


Conclusion

The field of business intelligence is ever-evolving and plays a vital role in the current data-driven business landscape. The books highlighted in this article provide a wealth of knowledge and insights for individuals at various stages of their BI journey. These business intelligence books collectively offer a comprehensive and diverse range of perspectives on business intelligence to promote growth and expertise. Whether you are a beginner seeking fundamental knowledge or a seasoned professional aiming to enhance your skills, these resources provide valuable insights and guidance for harnessing the power of BI to drive success in the modern business landscape.

Spotlight

Quantium Analytics

Quantium is a globally recognised leader in the development of data-driven insights and ideas. Insights into the rapidly changing needs and preferences of consumers, and ideas about how brands can engage customers and what their businesses must do to succeed. Quantum brings the highest pedigree to its combined skill sets of Data, Analytics, Technology and Media, and enables brands to create new and sustainable sources of competitive advantage. Quantium has enabled many of Australia’s most progressive businesses to capitalise on the value of their own data, combined with Quantium’s unique data assets, analytical skills and software development capabilities, to create greater customer understanding and attraction. Analysis is typically undertaken by actuaries and data scientists, using sophisticated processes to profile and predict customer behaviour and response. Such analysis is always connected to real commercial outcomes. Technology is deployed to enable the analysis and understa

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Business Intelligence, Big Data Management, Big Data

Maximize ROI with Marketing Analytics Technology

Article | July 10, 2023

Every business tries to improve their return on investment (ROI) every year by deploying different marketing strategies and technologies. Businesses are constantly adding new technologies to their content stack in order to enhance their efficiency and boost their revenue and growth. Data is inevitable in today's digital era, and Dan Zarrella correctly describes its role in marketing. He stated, "Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed." Indeed, the development of better marketing analytics tools and methodologies in recent years has provided business leaders with tremendous added decision-making power. Marketing analytics enables businesses to harness data points about their prospects and their journey through the selling process to enhance the effectiveness of their go-to-market efforts while optimizing ROI. The benefits can be experienced across teams and business segments. According to Hubspot, over 75% of marketers are reporting on how their campaigns are directly influencing revenue because of marketing analytics tools. So, let’s dive deeper and understand why marketing analytics matters. Why Does Marketing Analytics Matter? Marketing campaigns are just tossed into the world with little or no information about how your target audience responds to your marketing strategies. This happens in cases where business analytics tools are not used. Without employing marketing analytics, it can be said that a business is operating in the dark. Here are the reasons why marketing analytics matters. Quantifiable Actions Marketing analytics tools provide you with reliable matrices and insights into the varied marketing strategies that are implemented. Whenever numbers are presented, concrete data for the marketing effort is provided. For example, if you launched a content marketing campaign and have reliable data, it's easy to see that overall sales improved as a result of that marketing push. Campaign Analyses Only marketing analytics can provide a complete overview of how a marketing campaign or strategy actually performed. The data can be dug deeper to track individual messaging across a broad spectrum of outlets, making sure no approach is wasted. Plan for the Future Once you have an understanding of which marketing strategies are meeting expectations, you will be able to plan strategically for future marketing initiatives. Not only is this helpful for organizing marketing efforts, but it also makes it easier to allocate funds across boards. Maximize ROI with Marketing Analytics When marketers use marketing analytics tools, they can find patterns and signs that can be used to improve the performance of their company. This data can assist account managers to acquire new prospects, reallocate marketing expenditures to the most effective channels, and forecast future possibilities. Integration of marketing analytics software into the sales process can save time, boost revenue, and maximize ROI. Lead Prospecting Marketing analytics can enhance customer acquisition in multiple ways. Many marketers merely acquire data about website visitors and ad viewers via ad networks. They just receive basic demographic data, not tips about how to convert leads to sales. Marketing analytics tracks every prospect in your sales funnel or website in real-time. With a detailed picture of your potential customers, you can recognize qualified leads and target them with marketing. Using data insights, you can boost sales, get rid of bottlenecks, increase conversions, and find opportunities that were hidden in plain sight. Campaign Performance Monitoring Online advertising and marketing have the distinct advantage of allowing campaign managers to keep checks on ad performance in real-time. Businesses can use marketing ROI metrics like clicks, impressions, and conversions to figure out which ads work best. Real-time campaign monitoring is a valuable tool for today's marketers. Placements that are underperforming are paused or modified, while those with a great ROI could get extra ad revenue. These insights usually result in more efficient ad spending. Information from different media channels and data from online applications can be put together to learn about the prospect-to-customer journey. Demand Forecasting With suitable data at the right time, marketers gain more power. Tracking historical data is essential to identifying patterns and predicting demand. Seasonal patterns, for example, can have a significant impact on how well a campaign performs. Detailed research can indicate these factors and assist you in re-allocate or altering your marketing investment. Understanding the product or campaign performance helps to identify which items will be in high demand in the future quarter through the use of marketing analytics. Boost Sales Consumers are more knowledgeable than ever before. Reviews, social networks, blogs, etc., now influence most purchasing decisions. Marketing analytics provides valuable information. Focus on how marketing impacts sales to evaluate ROI. When to contact a potential customer, which product would have the most impact, and who is best suited to close the deal. Find sales-boosting marketing strategies. Marketing analytics can enhance revenue by: Understanding the decision-making process of a consumer. Tracking website user behavior and sales trends. Discussing your ROI strategy with the entire company, rather than just the sales or marketing teams. Summing Up For marketers, the use of marketing analytics technology is undoubtedly going to grow over time. You can boost your marketing ROI by using the best marketing analytics tools. Marketing ROI is mostly determined by how successful you are at developing and executing your company's marketing strategy. If you use the right marketing analytics, you can cut your marketing costs, make more people want your brand, and increase sales. FAQ What are the main components of marketing analytics? An effective marketing analytics strategy must have the following three capabilities: Scalability: Your approach must be able to grow and adapt to the changing requirements of the future. Sustainability: Having the appropriate team is essential to long-term sustainability. Affordability: Analytical is a sound investment, but the budget must be in sync with projected growth. What technology do most marketing analysts use? Marketing analysts can require various technologies related to: Statistical analysis software (e.g., R, SAS, SPSS, or STATA) SQL databases and database querying languages. What is digital marketing analytics? Customer behavior is translated into actionable company data through digital marketing analytics. Businesses can use digital analytics tools to learn more about what customers are doing online, why they're doing it, and how this behavior can be used in digital marketing campaigns.

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Business Intelligence, Big Data Management, Big Data

Harnessing the Power of Big Data: Events to attend in 2023

Article | July 18, 2023

Explore the top industry events of 2023 and leverage the potential of big data. Stay updated on the latest advancements and insights while benefiting from the knowledge and expertise of leading professionals across diverse industries. Introduction Data is ubiquitous in the modern digital world, and businesses are struggling to keep up with its rapid growth. To stay competitive, it's essential for businesses to harness the power of big data, and attending industry events is one of the best ways to keep up-to-date with the latest trends, insights, and techniques in data analytics. As we move into 2023, there are numerous conferences and workshops on the horizon that offer opportunities for professionals to enhance their knowledge and skills in this area. This article will highlight some of the most significant events to attend in 2023 for those looking to gain insights and learn how to leverage big data for business success. World Data Summit May 17-19, 2023| Amsterdam, The Netherlands The World Data Summit's three-day conference aims to provide insights on how to leverage data analytics for business transformation. The summit will bring together experts, thought leaders and professionals from various industries to discuss the latest trends, innovations, and challenges in the field of data analytics. In addition, attendees can benefit from practical case studies and market overviews, along with a deep dive into customer analytics or increased technical knowledge, by opting for designated workshop days. Intensive Data and Analytics Workshop IV June 5-8, 2023| Orlando, Florida The Intensive Data and Analytics Workshop IV is a four-day event that aims to equip attendees with comprehensive knowledge and practical experience in data analytics. The workshop covers the latest trends and techniques, as well as ways to utilize data to make strategic business decisions. Participants can engage in a combination of lectures, case studies, and hands-on exercises to fulfill a range of learning objectives. These objectives include identifying tools for integrating data analytics, comparing different data analytics tools, applying various data analytics tools, and exploring the use of data analytics tools in the accounting profession. Data + AI Summit 2023 June 26-29, 2023| San Francisco The Data + AI Summit gathers thousands of professionals in the fields of data, analytics and artificial intelligence. The event is aimed at sharing knowledge, best practices, and ideas, along with featuring presentations from data teams who are revolutionizing their industries. Attendees will learn about building and applying LLM to their businesses and will be offered hands-on training and role-based certifications to upskill their expertise. In addition, they will be able to network with peers, hear from industry experts, and explore the latest technologies and solutions in the field. Data Science Week 2023 June 26-28, 2023| Frankfurt, Germany Data Science Week 2023 is a global forum that aims to showcase the latest developments in the field of data science, including computational methods, statistics, and mathematics. The event will bring together data scientists, analysts, visualizers, statisticians, mathematicians, and researchers working to advance the fundamentals of data science and its applications across various fields, including science, engineering, technology, and society. The inclusive conference focuses on academics and industry professionals, providing a platform for engagement, building connections, development, and learning from data science leaders and experts. 2023 ANA Data, Analytics & Measurement Conference August 21 – 23, 2023 | Chicago, ILL. The ANA Data, Analytics & Measurement Conference, presented by Google, highlights the significance of measurement and the value of implementing a data-driven marketing approach. The conference aims to go beyond numerical data by offering a program that educates and motivates attendees to harness the potential of the available data and utilize it to its fullest extent. This three-day event features comprehensive coverage of critical topic areas, such as the latest developments in privacy regulations, emerging platforms, the changing TV industry, audience insights, and the latest advances in measuring outcomes and impact. In addition, attendees will benefit from real-life examples that they can directly integrate into their business applications. Predictive Analytics World Business June 18-22, 2023| Las Vegas Predictive Analytics World (PAW) is a leading cross-vendor conference series for the commercial deployment of machine learning and predictive analytics. Attendees will learn from experts about advanced topics such as causal inference, churn modeling, cloud-based machine learning, and customer lifecycle analytics. By attending, they can stay up-to-date on the latest trends and techniques, network with peers, and gain insights to improve their businesses. PAW is an excellent platform for learning, exchanging ideas, and making valuable connections. Big Data LDN (London) September 20-21, 2023| Olympia, London Big Data LDN (London) is the UK's leading free-to-attend conference and exhibition for data and analytics. It offers attendees the opportunity to learn from leading data and analytics experts and develop effective data-driven strategies. The event gathers industry experts and thought leaders worldwide to discuss the latest trends and developments in Big Data, including data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and analytics. With over 180 technology vendors and consultants in attendance, attendees can discuss their business requirements and network with industry peers. The event features 300 expert speakers across 15 technical and business-led conference theaters, offering real-world use cases and panel debates. Data & Analytics Live July 25-26, 2023| North America Data & Analytics Live is a two-day event that brings together professionals in data and analytics from all over North America for learning, networking, and collaboration. Whether you're a newcomer to the field or an experienced leader, this event offers valuable insights and takeaways to help you and your team throughout the year. Discover how data and analytics are transforming businesses, get answers to your biggest questions, and find inspiration for even greater success in 2023. Attend cross-industry sessions to learn and collaborate with like-minded attendees to solve shared problems during discussions and Q&A with speakers. Connect with attendees and build new collaborations through interactive sessions. Learn about the latest advancements and trends in Data and Analytics from expert speakers and develop your leadership skills through interactive Executive Coaching sessions. DataConnect Conference July 20-21, 2023| Columbus, Ohio The DataConnect Conference is a yearly event that brings together entrepreneurs, technical experts, and industry leaders to explore the latest advancements, trends, and innovations in data, analytics, machine learning, and AI. Attendees can access top-notch content delivered by presenters who are at the forefront of data science, analytics, AI, and machine learning over two full days. DataConnect covers various relevant topics with multiple tracks, ensuring every attendee can create a personalized agenda tailored to their interests and experience level. The event has a global presence, attracting professionals from various industries, roles, backgrounds, and skill levels. Attendees can also enhance their experience by adding expert-led workshops. They can learn in-demand skills from professional-level instructors in 4-hour workshops covering a broad range of topics. Data Architecture Online July 12th, 2023| Online Data Architecture Online is an annual event that covers the latest strategies and technologies for building and managing modern Data Architecture. Attendees can join live, webinar-style sessions and learn from industry-leading professionals while connecting with other data peers. The event is free and designed for data architects, modelers, database administrators, and IT managers of all experience levels. Whether you're new to data architecture or an expert, Data Architecture Online is the perfect opportunity to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices in the field. Conclusion Attending big data events in 2023 presents an outstanding opportunity for professionals and businesses to remain abreast of the latest trends and techniques in the industry. Covering an array of topics such as data architecture, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence, these events offer practical insights that can help businesses thrive. Whether attending in-person or virtual conferences, there are a variety of options available that cater to the needs of all individuals and organizations. By networking with peers and industry experts, attendees can learn from other's experiences and establish valuable connections. These events provide individuals and organizations with the means to harness the power of big data to drive innovation and success in their respective fields.

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Business Intelligence, Big Data Management, Big Data

How Machine Learning Can Take Data Science to a Whole New Level

Article | August 17, 2023

Introduction Machine Learning (ML) has taken strides over the past few years, establishing its place in data analytics. In particular, ML has become a cornerstone in data science, alongside data wrangling, and data visualization, among other facets of the field. Yet, we observe many organizations still hesitant when allocating a budget for it in their data pipelines. The data engineer role seems to attract lots of attention, but few companies leverage the machine learning expert/engineer. Could it be that ML can add value to other enterprises too? Let's find out by clarifying certain concepts. What Machine Learning is So that we are all on the same page, let's look at a down-to-earth definition of ML that you can include in a company meeting, a report, or even within an email to a colleague who isn't in this field. Investopedia defines ML as "the concept that a computer program can learn and adapt to new data without human intervention." In other words, if your machine (be it a computer, a smartphone, or even a smart device) can learn on its own, using some specialized software, then it's under the ML umbrella. It's important to note that ML is also a stand-alone field of research, predating most AI systems, even if the two are linked, as we'll see later on. How Machine Learning is different from Statistics It's also important to note that ML is different from Statistics, even if some people like to view the former as an extension of the latter. However, there is a fundamental difference that most people aren't aware of yet. Namely, ML is data-driven while Statistics is, for the most part, model-driven. This statement means that most Stats-based inferences are made by assuming a particular distribution in the data, or the interactions of different variables, and making predictions based on our mathematical models of these distributions. ML may employ distributions in some niche cases, but for the most part, it looks at data as-is, without making any assumptions about it. Machine Learning’s role in data science work Let’s now get to the crux of the matter and explore how ML can be a significant value-add to a data science pipeline. First of all, ML can potentially offer better predictions than most Stats models in terms of accuracy, F1 score, etc. Also, ML can work alongside existing models to form model ensembles that can tackle the problems more effectively. Additionally, if transparency is important to the project stakeholders, there are ML-based options for offering some insight as to what variables are important in the data at hand, for making predictions based on it. Moreover, ML is more parametrized, meaning that you can tweak an ML model more, adapting it to the data you have and ensuring more robustness (i.e., reliability). Finally, you can learn ML without needing a Math degree or any other formal training. The latter, however, may prove useful, if you wish to delve deeper into the topic and develop your own models. This innovation potential is a significant aspect of ML since it's not as easy to develop new models in Stats (unless you are an experienced Statistics researcher) or even in AI. Besides, there are a bunch of various "heuristics" that are part of the ML group of algorithms, facilitating your data science work, regardless of what predictive model you end up using. Machine Learning and AI Many people conflate ML with AI these days. This confusion is partly because many ML models involve artificial neural networks (ANNs) which are the most modern manifestation of AI. Also, many AI systems are employed in ML tasks, so they are referred to as ML systems since AI can be a bit generic as a term. However, not all ML algorithms are AI-related, nor are all AI algorithms under the ML umbrella. This distinction is of import because certain limitations of AI systems (e.g., the need for lots and lots of data) don't apply to most ML models, while AI systems tend to be more time-consuming and resource-heavy than the average ML one. There are several ML algorithms you can use without breaking the bank and derive value from your data through them. Then, if you find that you need something better, in terms of accuracy, you can explore AI-based ones. Keep in mind, however, that some ML models (e.g., Decision Trees, Random Forests, etc.) offer some transparency, while the vast majority of AI ones are black boxes. Learning more about the topic Naturally, it's hard to do this topic justice in a single article. It is so vast that someone can write a book on it! That's what I've done earlier this year, through the Technics Publications publishing house. You can learn more about this topic via this book, which is titled Julia for Machine Learning(Julia is a modern programming language used in data science, among other fields, and it's popular among various technical professionals). Feel free to check it out and explore how you can use ML in your work. Cheers!

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How to Overcome Challenges in Adopting Data Analytics

Article | April 20, 2020

Achieving organizational success and making data-driven decisions in 2020 requires embracing tech tools like Data Analytics and collecting, storing and analysing data isn’t.The real data-driven, measurable growth, and development come with the establishment of data-driven company culture.In this type of culture company actively uses data resources as a primary asset to make smart decisions and ensure future growth. Despite the rapid growth of analytic solutions, a recent Gartner survey revealed that almost 75% of organizations thought their analytics maturity had not reached a level that optimized business outcomes. Just like with any endeavor, your organization must have a planned strategy to achieve its analytical goals. Let’s explore ways for overcoming common blockers, and elements used in successful analytics adoption strategies. Table of Contents: - AMM: Analytic Maturity Model - What are the blockers to achieving a strategy-driven analytics? - What are the adoption strategies to achieve an analytics success? - Conclusion AMM: Analytic Maturity Model The Analytic Maturity Model (AMM) evaluates the analytic maturity of an organization.The model identifies the five stages an organization travels through to reach optimization. Organizations must implement the right tools, engage their team in proper training, and provide the management support necessary to generate predictable outcomes with their analytics. Based on the maturity of these processes, the AMM divides organizations into five maturity levels: - Organizations that can build reports. - Organizations that can build and deploy models. - Organizations that have repeatable processes for building and deploying analytics. - Organizations that have consistent enterprise-wide processes for analytics. - Enterprises whose analytics is strategy driven. READ MORE:EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES TO DEMOCRATIZE DATA SCIENCE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION What are the blockers to achieving a strategy-driven analytics? - Missing an Analytics Strategy - Analytics is not for everyone - Data quality presents unique challenges - Siloed Data - Changing the culture What are the adoption strategies to achieve analytic success? • Have you got a plan to achieve analytic success? The strategy begins with business intelligence and moves toward advanced analytics. The approach differs based on the AMM level. The plan may address the strategy for a single year, or it may span 3 or more years. It ideally has milestones for what the team will do. When forming an analytics strategy, it can be expensive and time consuming at the outset. While organizations are encouraged to seek projects that can generate quick wins, the truth is that it may be months before any actionable results are available. During this period, the management team is frantically diverting resources from other high-profile projects. If funds are tight, this situation alone may cause friction. It may not be apparent to everyone how the changes are expected to help. Here are the elements of a successful analytics strategy: • Keep the focus tied to tangible business outcomes The strategy must support business goals first. With as few words as possible, your plan should outline what you intend to achieve, how to complete it, and a target date for completion of the plan. Companies may fail at this step because they mistake implementing a tool for having a strategy. To keep it relevant, tie it to customer-focused goals. The strategy must dig below the surface with the questions that it asks. Instead of asking surface questions such as “How can we save money?”, instead ask, “How can we improve the quality of the outcomes for our customers?” or “What would improve the productivity of each worker?” These questions are more specific and will get the results the business wants. You may need to use actual business cases from your organization to think through the questions. • Select modern, multi-purpose tools The organization should be looking for an enterprise tool that supports integrating data from various databases, spreadsheets, or even external web based sources. Typically, organizations may have their data stored across multiple databases such as Salesforce, Oracle, and even Microsoft Access. The organization can move ahead quicker when access to the relevant data is in a single repository. With the data combined, the analysts have a specific location to find reports and dashboards. The interface needs to be robust enough to show the data from multiple points of view. It should also allow future enhancements, such as when the organization makes the jump into data science. Incorta’s Data Analytics platform simplifies and processes data to provide meaningful information at speed that helps make informed decisions. Incorta is special in that it allows business users to ask the same complex and meaningful questions of their data that typically require many IT people and data scientist to get the answers they need to improve their line of business. At the digital pace of business today, that can mean millions of dollars for business leaders in finance, supply chain or even marketing. Speed is a key differentiator for Incorta in that rarely has anyone been able to query billions of rows of data in seconds for a line of business owner. - Tara Ryan, CMO, Incorta Technology implementations take time. That should not stop you from starting in small areas of the company to look for quick wins. Typically, the customer-facing processes have areas where it is easier to collect data and show opportunities for improvement. • Ensure staff readiness If your current organization is not data literate, then you will need resources who understand how to analyze and use data for process improvement. It is possible that you can make data available and the workers still not realize what they can do with it. The senior leadership may also need training about how to use data and what data analytics makes possible. • Start Small to Control Costs and Show Potential If the leadership team questions the expense, consider doing a proof of concept that focuses on the tools and data being integrated quickly and efficiently to show measurable success. The business may favor specific projects or initiatives to move the company forward over long-term enterprise transformations (Bean & Davenport, 2019). Keeping the project goals precise and directed helps control costs and improve the business. As said earlier, the strategy needs to answer deeper business questions. Consider other ways to introduce analytics into the business. Use initiatives that target smaller areas of the company to build competencies. Provide an analytics sandbox with access to tools and training to encourage other non-analytics workers (or citizen data scientists) to play with the data. One company formed a SWAT team, including individuals from across the organization. The smaller team with various domain experience was better able to drive results. There are also other approaches to use – the key is to show immediate and desirable results that align with organizational goals. • Treating the poor data quality What can you do about poor data quality at your company? Several solutions that can help to improve productivity and reduce the financial impact of poor data quality in your organization include: • Create a team to set the proper objectives Create a team who owns the data quality process. This is important to prove to yourself and to anyone with whom you are conversing about data that you are serious about data quality. The size of the team is not as important as the membership from the parts of the organization that have the right impact and knowledge in the process. When the team is set, make sure that they create a set of goals and objectives for data quality. To gauge performance, you need a set of metrics to measure the performance. After you create the proper team to govern your data quality, ensure that the team focuses on the data you need first. Everyone knows the rules of "good data in, good data out" and "bad data in, bad data out." To put this to work, make sure that your team knows the relevant business questions that are in progress across various data projects to make sure that they focus on the data that supports those business questions. • Focus on the data you need now as the highest priority Once you do that, you can look at the potential data quality issues associated with each of the relevant downstream business questions and put the proper processes and data quality routines in place to ensure that poor data quality has a low probability of Successful Analytics Adoption Strategies, continuing to affect that data. As you decide which data to focus on, remember that the key for innovators across industries is that the size of the data isn’t the most critical factor — having the right data is (Wessel, 2016). • Automate the process of data quality when data volumes grow too large When data volumes become unwieldy and difficult to manage the quality, automate the process. Many data quality tools in the market do a good job of removing the manual effort from the process. Open source options include Talend and DataCleaner. Commercial products include offerings from DataFlux, Informatica, Alteryx and Software AG. As you search for the right tool for you and your team, beware that although the tools help with the organization and automation, the right processes and knowledge of your company's data are paramount to success. • Make the process of data quality repeatable It needs regular care and feeding. Remember that the process is not a one-time activity. It needs regular care and feeding. While good data quality can save you a lot of time, energy, and money downstream, it does take time, investment, and practice to do well. As you improve the quality of your data and the processes around that quality, you will want to look for other opportunities to avoid data quality mishaps. • Beware of data that lives in separate databases When data is stored in different databases, there can be issues with different terms being used for the same subject. The good news is that if you have followed the former solutions, you should have more time to invest in looking for the best cases. As always, look for the opportunities with the biggest bang for the buck first. You don't want to be answering questions from the steering committee about why you are looking for differences between "HR" and "Hr" if you haven't solved bigger issues like knowing the difference between "Human Resources" and "Resources," for example. • De-Siloing Data The solution to removing data silos typically isn’t some neatly packaged, off-the-shelf product. Attempts to quickly create a data lake by simply pouring all the siloed data together can result in an unusable mess, turning more into a data swamp. This is a process that must be done carefully to avoid confusion, liability, and error. Try to identify high-value opportunities and find the various data stores required to execute those projects. Working with various business groups to find business problems that are well-suited to data science solutions and then gathering the necessary data from the various data stores can lead to high-visibility successes. As value is proved from joining disparate data sources together to create new insights, it will be easier to get buy-in from upper levels to invest time and money into consolidating key data stores. In the first efforts, getting data from different areas may be akin to pulling teeth, but as with most things in life, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Once the wheels get moving on a few of these integration projects, make wide-scale integration the new focus. Many organizations at this stage appoint a Chief Analytics Officer (CAO) who helps increase collaboration between the IT and business units ensuring their priorities are aligned. As you work to integrate the data, make sure that you don’t inadvertently create a new “analytics silo.” The final aim here is an integrated platform for your enterprise data. • Education is essential When nearly 45% of workers generally prefer status quo over innovation, how do you encourage an organization to move forward? If the workers are not engaged or see the program as merely just the latest management trend, it may be tricky to convince them. Larger organizations may have a culture that is slow to change due to their size or outside forces. There’s also a culture shift required - moving from experience and knee-jerk reactions to immersion and exploration of rich insights and situational awareness. - Walter Storm, the Chief Data Scientist, Lockheed Martin Companies spend a year talking about an approved analytics tool before moving forward. The employees had time to consider the change and to understand the new skill sets needed. Once the entire team embraced the change, the organization moved forward swiftly to convert existing data and reports into the new tool. In the end, the corporation is more successful, and the employees are still in alignment with the corporate strategy. If using data to support decisions is a foreign concept to the organization, it’s a smart idea to ensure the managers and workers have similar training. This training may involve everything from basic data literacy to selecting the right data for management presentations. However, it cannot stop at the training; the leaders must then ask for the data to move forward with requests that will support conclusions that will be used to make critical decisions across the business. These methods make it easier to sell the idea and keep the organization’s analytic strategy moving forward. Once senior leadership uses data to make decisions, everyone else will follow their lead. It is that simple. Conclusion The analytics maturity model serves as a useful framework for understanding where your organization currently stands regarding strategy, progress, and skill sets. Advancing along the various levels of the model will become increasingly imperative as early adopters of advanced analytics gain a competitive edge in their respective industries. Delay or failure to design and incorporate a clearly defined analytics strategy into an organization’s existing plan will likely result in a significant missed opportunity. READ MORE:BIG DATA ANALYTICS STRATEGIES ARE MATURING QUICKLY IN HEALTHCARE

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Quantium Analytics

Quantium is a globally recognised leader in the development of data-driven insights and ideas. Insights into the rapidly changing needs and preferences of consumers, and ideas about how brands can engage customers and what their businesses must do to succeed. Quantum brings the highest pedigree to its combined skill sets of Data, Analytics, Technology and Media, and enables brands to create new and sustainable sources of competitive advantage. Quantium has enabled many of Australia’s most progressive businesses to capitalise on the value of their own data, combined with Quantium’s unique data assets, analytical skills and software development capabilities, to create greater customer understanding and attraction. Analysis is typically undertaken by actuaries and data scientists, using sophisticated processes to profile and predict customer behaviour and response. Such analysis is always connected to real commercial outcomes. Technology is deployed to enable the analysis and understa

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NetApp Empowers Secure Cloud Sovereignty with StorageGRID

NetApp | November 08, 2023

NetApp introduces StorageGRID for VMware Sovereign Cloud, enhancing data storage and security for sovereign cloud customers. NetApp's Object Storage plugin for VMware Cloud Director enables seamless integration of StorageGRID for secure Object Storage for unstructured data. NetApp's Sovereign Cloud integration ensures data sovereignty, security, and data value while adhering to regulatory standards. NetApp, a prominent global cloud-led, data-centric software company, has recently introduced NetApp StorageGRID for VMware Sovereign Cloud. This NetApp plugin offering for VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension empowers sovereign cloud customers to cost-efficiently secure, store, protect, and preserve unstructured data while adhering to global data privacy and residency regulations. Additionally, NetApp has also unveiled the latest release of NetApp ONTAP Tools for VMware vSphere (OTV 10.0), which is designed to streamline and centralize enterprise data management within multi-tenant vSphere environments. The concept of sovereignty has emerged as a vital facet of cloud computing for entities that handle highly sensitive data, including national and state governments, as well as tightly regulated sectors like finance and healthcare. In this context, national governments are increasingly exploring ways to enhance their digital economic capabilities and reduce their reliance on multinational corporations for cloud services. NetApp's newly introduced Object Storage plugin for VMware Cloud Director offers Cloud Service Providers a seamless means to integrate StorageGRID as their primary Object Storage solution to provide secure Object Storage for unstructured data to their customers. This integration provides StorageGRID services into the familiar VMware Cloud Director user interface, thereby minimizing training requirements and accelerating time to revenue for partners. A noteworthy feature of StorageGRID is its universal compatibility and native support for industry-standard APIs, such as the Amazon S3 API, facilitating smooth interoperability across diverse cloud environments. Enhanced functionalities like automated lifecycle management further ensure cost-effective data protection, storage, and high availability for unstructured data within VMware environments. The integration of NetApp's Sovereign Cloud with Cloud Director empowers providers to offer customers: Robust assurance that sensitive data, including metadata, remains under sovereign control, safeguarding against potential access by foreign authorities that may infringe upon data privacy laws. Heightened security and compliance measures that protect applications and data from evolving cybersecurity threats, all while maintaining continuous compliance with infrastructure, trusted local, established frameworks, and local experts. A future-proof infrastructure capable of swiftly reacting to evolving data privacy regulations, security challenges, and geopolitical dynamics. The ability to unlock the value of data through secure data sharing and analysis, fostering innovation without compromising privacy laws and ensuring data integrity to derive accurate insights. VMware Sovereign Cloud providers are dedicated to designing and operating cloud solutions rooted in modern, software-defined architectures that embody the core principles and best practices outlined in the VMware Sovereign Cloud framework. Workloads within VMware Sovereign Cloud environments are often characterized by a diverse range of data sets, including transactional workloads and substantial volumes of unstructured data, all requiring cost-effective and integrated management that is compliant with regulated standards for sovereign and regulated customers. In addition to the aforementioned advancements, NetApp also announced a collaborative effort with VMware aimed at modernizing API integrations between NetApp ONTAP and VMware vSphere. This integration empowers VMware administrators to streamline the management and operations of NetApp ONTAP-based data management platforms within multi-tenant vSphere environments, all while allowing users to leverage a new micro-services-based architecture that offers enhanced scalability and availability. With the latest releases of NetApp ONTAP and ONTAP Tools for vSphere, NetApp has significantly made protection, provisioning, and securing modern VMware environments at scale faster and easier, all while maintaining a centralized point of visibility and control through vSphere. NetApp ONTAP Tools for VMware provides two key benefits to customers: A redefined architecture featuring VMware vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) integration, simplifying policy-driven operations and enabling cloud-like scalability. An automation-enabled framework driven by an API-first approach, allowing IT teams to seamlessly integrate with existing tools and construct end-to-end workflows for easy consumption of features and capabilities.

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Sigma and Connect&GO Redefine Data Analytics for Attraction Industry

Sigma Computing | November 07, 2023

Sigma and Connect&GO have recently introduced the new Connect&GO reporting tool, an advanced embedded analytics solution that empowers attractions worldwide to enhance operational efficiency, boost revenue, and evaluate their data in real-time. This no-code platform, a result of Sigma's cloud analytics expertise and Connect&GO's integrated technology, offers an intuitive and customizable dashboard for real-time data insights. It simplifies data analytics, reporting, and sharing, making it suitable for a wide range of attractions industry customers, including marketing, finance, and operations managers, as well as C-suite executives. The new Connect&GO reporting tool equips attractions industry customers with the ability to make informed decisions through customizable dashboards. Operators can effortlessly upload data sets, such as forecasts and projections from various systems, and compare them in real-time with actual data, including budgets. This live data and insights allow them to delve into the granular details of their business, enabling them to address day-to-day challenges, compare data sets, and plan for the future more accurately. These capabilities enable attractions to improve guest satisfaction, foster collaboration, ease the burden on engineering teams, and ultimately generate new revenue streams. For instance, park management can use better data to predict attendance, adjust staffing levels as needed, and ensure appropriate retail, food, and beverage inventory to enhance the guest experience. Sigma has rapidly established itself as a go-to cloud analytics platform, experiencing significant growth over the past years and earning numerous awards, including Snowflake BI Partner of the Year 2023. Sigma's success can be attributed to its mission of removing traditional barriers to data access and empowering business users to extract maximum value from live data without requiring technical expertise. Platform users can directly access and manage data stored in a cloud data warehouse without the involvement of a data team. With a familiar and intuitive interface, they can easily explore data and test different scenarios, gaining new insights and the context needed for decision-making. In contrast to legacy technology platforms that keep data isolated and operations disjointed, Connect&GO's cutting-edge solution, Konnect, is a fully integrated system that enables operators to oversee every aspect of their business seamlessly. This platform uniquely provides operators with real-time data, making it effortless to manage eCommerce, access control, point-of-sale, and cashless payments through proprietary Virtual Wallet technology. With its configurable interface and connected RFID wearables, Konnect enables operators to curate premium guest experiences that drive revenue and enhance engagement. About Sigma Computing Sigma Computing is a prominent cloud analytics solutions provider, offering business users seamless access to their cloud data warehouse for effortless exploration and insight gathering. With its intuitive spreadsheet-like interface, Sigma eliminates the need for coding or specialized training, enabling users to effortlessly navigate vast datasets, augment them with new information, and conduct real-time 'what if' analyses on billions of rows of data. About Connect&GO Connect&GO is a leading integrated technology and RFID solutions provider for the attractions industry. Its flexible operations management platform seamlessly integrates e-commerce, food & beverage, point-of-sale, access control, RFID, and cashless payments using its proprietary Virtual Wallet technology, consolidating all data in one place. The company helps drive revenue and maximize guest engagement with valuable real-time data insights. Connect&GO serves amusement and water parks, family entertainment centers, zoos & aquariums, and other attractions worldwide, integrating user-friendly wearable technology into extraordinary experiences.

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Google Cloud and Bloomberg Unite to Accelerate Customers Data Strategies

Bloomberg | November 06, 2023

Bloomberg and Google Cloud integrate Data License Plus (DL+) with BigQuery for efficient data access and analytics. Customers can access fully modeled data within BigQuery, eliminating data preparation time. Mackenzie Investments adopts DL+ ESG Manager to host the acquisition, management, and publishing of Multi-vendor ESG data. Bloomberg has unveiled a new offering designed to accelerate the data strategies of Google Cloud customers by integrating Bloomberg's cloud-based data management solution, Data License Plus (DL+), with Google Cloud's fully managed, serverless data warehouse, BigQuery. Now, with access to Bloomberg's extensive experience modeling, managing, and delivering vast quantities of complex content, mutual customers can receive their Bloomberg Data License (DL) data, entirely modeled and seamlessly combined within BigQuery. As a result, organizations can leverage the advanced analytics capabilities of Google Cloud to extract more value from critical business information quickly and efficiently with minimal data wrangling. Through this extended collaboration, customers can harness the powerful analytics features of BigQuery and tap into Bloomberg's extensive collection of datasets available through Data License to power their most essential workloads. Bloomberg's Data License content offers a wide variety, including reference, pricing, ESG, regulatory, estimates, fundamentals, and historical data, supporting operational, quantitative, and investment research workflows, covering over 70 million securities and 40,000 data fields. Key benefits include: Direct Access to Bloomberg Data in BigQuery: Bloomberg customers can seamlessly access Bloomberg Data License content within BigQuery, allowing for scalable use across their organization. This eliminates the time-consuming tasks of ingesting and structuring third-party datasets, thereby accelerating the time-to-value for analytics projects. Elimination of Data Barriers: Google Cloud and Bloomberg will make Bloomberg's DL+ solution available to mutual customers via BigQuery. This allows for the delivery of fully modeled Bloomberg data and multi-vendor ESG content within their analytics workloads. In a recent announcement, Bloomberg revealed that Mackenzie Investments has selected DL+ ESG Manager to host the acquisition, management, and publishing of multi-vendor ESG data. This move positions Mackenzie Investments to implement ESG investing strategies more efficiently and develop sophisticated ESG-focused insights and investment products, with BigQuery playing a central role in powering these analytics workloads moving forward. Don Huff, the Global Head of Client Services and Operations at Bloomberg Data Management Services, stated that as capital markets firms are in the process of migrating their workloads to the Cloud, their customers require efficient access to high-quality data in a preferred environment. He expressed excitement about extending their partnership with Google Cloud, aiming to stay at the forefront of innovation in financial data management and to enhance their customers' enterprise analytics capabilities. Stephen Orban, the VP of Migrations, ISVs, and Marketplace at Google Cloud, stated that Google Cloud and Bloomberg share a common commitment to empowering customers making data-driven decisions to power their businesses. He mentioned that the expanded alliance between the two companies would allow customers to effortlessly integrate Bloomberg's leading datasets with their own data within BigQuery. This would simplify the process of conducting analytics with valuable insights related to financial markets, regulations, ESG, and other critical business information.

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Sigma Computing | November 07, 2023

Sigma and Connect&GO have recently introduced the new Connect&GO reporting tool, an advanced embedded analytics solution that empowers attractions worldwide to enhance operational efficiency, boost revenue, and evaluate their data in real-time. This no-code platform, a result of Sigma's cloud analytics expertise and Connect&GO's integrated technology, offers an intuitive and customizable dashboard for real-time data insights. It simplifies data analytics, reporting, and sharing, making it suitable for a wide range of attractions industry customers, including marketing, finance, and operations managers, as well as C-suite executives. The new Connect&GO reporting tool equips attractions industry customers with the ability to make informed decisions through customizable dashboards. Operators can effortlessly upload data sets, such as forecasts and projections from various systems, and compare them in real-time with actual data, including budgets. This live data and insights allow them to delve into the granular details of their business, enabling them to address day-to-day challenges, compare data sets, and plan for the future more accurately. These capabilities enable attractions to improve guest satisfaction, foster collaboration, ease the burden on engineering teams, and ultimately generate new revenue streams. For instance, park management can use better data to predict attendance, adjust staffing levels as needed, and ensure appropriate retail, food, and beverage inventory to enhance the guest experience. Sigma has rapidly established itself as a go-to cloud analytics platform, experiencing significant growth over the past years and earning numerous awards, including Snowflake BI Partner of the Year 2023. Sigma's success can be attributed to its mission of removing traditional barriers to data access and empowering business users to extract maximum value from live data without requiring technical expertise. Platform users can directly access and manage data stored in a cloud data warehouse without the involvement of a data team. With a familiar and intuitive interface, they can easily explore data and test different scenarios, gaining new insights and the context needed for decision-making. In contrast to legacy technology platforms that keep data isolated and operations disjointed, Connect&GO's cutting-edge solution, Konnect, is a fully integrated system that enables operators to oversee every aspect of their business seamlessly. This platform uniquely provides operators with real-time data, making it effortless to manage eCommerce, access control, point-of-sale, and cashless payments through proprietary Virtual Wallet technology. With its configurable interface and connected RFID wearables, Konnect enables operators to curate premium guest experiences that drive revenue and enhance engagement. About Sigma Computing Sigma Computing is a prominent cloud analytics solutions provider, offering business users seamless access to their cloud data warehouse for effortless exploration and insight gathering. With its intuitive spreadsheet-like interface, Sigma eliminates the need for coding or specialized training, enabling users to effortlessly navigate vast datasets, augment them with new information, and conduct real-time 'what if' analyses on billions of rows of data. About Connect&GO Connect&GO is a leading integrated technology and RFID solutions provider for the attractions industry. Its flexible operations management platform seamlessly integrates e-commerce, food & beverage, point-of-sale, access control, RFID, and cashless payments using its proprietary Virtual Wallet technology, consolidating all data in one place. The company helps drive revenue and maximize guest engagement with valuable real-time data insights. Connect&GO serves amusement and water parks, family entertainment centers, zoos & aquariums, and other attractions worldwide, integrating user-friendly wearable technology into extraordinary experiences.

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Google Cloud and Bloomberg Unite to Accelerate Customers Data Strategies

Bloomberg | November 06, 2023

Bloomberg and Google Cloud integrate Data License Plus (DL+) with BigQuery for efficient data access and analytics. Customers can access fully modeled data within BigQuery, eliminating data preparation time. Mackenzie Investments adopts DL+ ESG Manager to host the acquisition, management, and publishing of Multi-vendor ESG data. Bloomberg has unveiled a new offering designed to accelerate the data strategies of Google Cloud customers by integrating Bloomberg's cloud-based data management solution, Data License Plus (DL+), with Google Cloud's fully managed, serverless data warehouse, BigQuery. Now, with access to Bloomberg's extensive experience modeling, managing, and delivering vast quantities of complex content, mutual customers can receive their Bloomberg Data License (DL) data, entirely modeled and seamlessly combined within BigQuery. As a result, organizations can leverage the advanced analytics capabilities of Google Cloud to extract more value from critical business information quickly and efficiently with minimal data wrangling. Through this extended collaboration, customers can harness the powerful analytics features of BigQuery and tap into Bloomberg's extensive collection of datasets available through Data License to power their most essential workloads. Bloomberg's Data License content offers a wide variety, including reference, pricing, ESG, regulatory, estimates, fundamentals, and historical data, supporting operational, quantitative, and investment research workflows, covering over 70 million securities and 40,000 data fields. Key benefits include: Direct Access to Bloomberg Data in BigQuery: Bloomberg customers can seamlessly access Bloomberg Data License content within BigQuery, allowing for scalable use across their organization. This eliminates the time-consuming tasks of ingesting and structuring third-party datasets, thereby accelerating the time-to-value for analytics projects. Elimination of Data Barriers: Google Cloud and Bloomberg will make Bloomberg's DL+ solution available to mutual customers via BigQuery. This allows for the delivery of fully modeled Bloomberg data and multi-vendor ESG content within their analytics workloads. In a recent announcement, Bloomberg revealed that Mackenzie Investments has selected DL+ ESG Manager to host the acquisition, management, and publishing of multi-vendor ESG data. This move positions Mackenzie Investments to implement ESG investing strategies more efficiently and develop sophisticated ESG-focused insights and investment products, with BigQuery playing a central role in powering these analytics workloads moving forward. Don Huff, the Global Head of Client Services and Operations at Bloomberg Data Management Services, stated that as capital markets firms are in the process of migrating their workloads to the Cloud, their customers require efficient access to high-quality data in a preferred environment. He expressed excitement about extending their partnership with Google Cloud, aiming to stay at the forefront of innovation in financial data management and to enhance their customers' enterprise analytics capabilities. Stephen Orban, the VP of Migrations, ISVs, and Marketplace at Google Cloud, stated that Google Cloud and Bloomberg share a common commitment to empowering customers making data-driven decisions to power their businesses. He mentioned that the expanded alliance between the two companies would allow customers to effortlessly integrate Bloomberg's leading datasets with their own data within BigQuery. This would simplify the process of conducting analytics with valuable insights related to financial markets, regulations, ESG, and other critical business information.

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