The Future of Data Analytics and Business Intelligence

Whether it’s an average person or a massive corporation, everyone relies on data on a daily basis. From keeping track of daily expenses, to keeping track of your daily emotional state or fitness goals, data drives our lives more than we think.

For corporations, data is one of the most valuable tools at their disposal. The prominence of better data analytics technology with time has, hence, made Big Data and Data Analytics one of the main pillars of the current industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0 as it is known to the world.

Data Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Big Data – What do they mean?

·???????Data Analytics is a rather broad concept which pertains to the analysis of raw data and applying statistical and computational techniques to the data in order to find trends, useful information, and draw conclusions from it.

·???????Business Intelligence, or BI, seeks to apply strategies and technologies to combine data analytics with business information. It combines the analytics of business data with other data science tools to allow businesses to make more data-driven decisions. BI tools allow users to analyse current and historical business data and present them in meaningful ways to draw conclusions as to how the business is performing.

·???????Big Data, in the simplest terms, refers to datasets that are too large and diverse for traditional toolsets to handle. Currently, Big Data Analytics is a blooming and highly profitable field that continues to grow at breakneck speeds as technology evolves.

How Big is Big Data – Numbers to Paint the Picture

As of 2022, the global Big Data and Analytics market is worth more than 270 billion USD, and has been estimated to generate a revenue of around 40 billion USD this year alone. Furthermore, it is estimated that around 2.5 exabyte of data is generated daily, and nearly 70% of that data is user generated.

The sheer volume of data that we have right now can be summarized by a quote from Eric Schmidt, the Executive Chairman at Google – “There were 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003, but that much information is now created every two days.”

With more data being generated, its value will continue to rise, with revenue projected to increase by more than double in value within the next five years. With such numbers, it makes sense that data analytics is such a tempting field think everyone wants a piece of.

Future Trends in Data Analytics and Business Intelligence

·???????Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Being one of the pillars of Industry 4.0, AI And ML are significant technologies that have crept up in almost every field imaginable. AI and ML allow for far more efficient and effective analytics tools that not only work faster than traditional statistical methods, but are also more accurate and allow for efficient scaling for larger datasets.

Data Analytics and Business Intelligence tools that incorporate AI and ML are rapidly growing and is, without a doubt, one of the biggest trends going forward.

·???????Data Analytics and Business Intelligence as a Service

With the future leaning more and more towards Everything-as-a-Service as the internet becomes more accessible and faster, Data-as-a-Service and BI-as-a-Service are no exception either.

Cloud-based services allow users to access services quickly and conveniently, without having to rely on bulky on-site and off-site storage solutions.

Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Services, and Microsoft Azure are among the leading cloud-based service providers that are enabling users to access cloud-based data analytics and business intelligence tools with ease.

·???????Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Natural language processing tools, combined with AI and ML, has seen some unprecedented development over the years. NLP focuses on the interaction between computers and human languages and development of tools that allow computers to process the natural human languages better. NLP allows for reading comments and reviews and understand the sentiment behind them. This can allow businesses to learn a lot of about customer opinion using only software-based tools.

·???????Automation

Automation allows for automating certain tasks using computer systems, allowing for minimal human interactions.

As data stores grow larger, automating data analytics and BI processes will have significant impact on the productivity of companies. Automation also allows for prescriptive and predictive analytics, allowing systems to automatically examine data and draw useful conclusions for businesses.

·???????Augmented Analytics

Augmented analytics is growing trend that is likely to become the most important aspect of data analytics and BI in the future. Augmented analytics utilizes AI and NLP to automate the analysis process which has been traditionally done by an analyst or data scientist.

It aims to expand a human’s ability to interact with data. While it might seem similar to automation of data analytics, augmented analytics doesn’t take away the human interaction, but rather augments the experience, guiding users to look at the results in a different light.

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Big Data, Privacy Concerns, and Data Governance in the Future

One of the biggest drawbacks and concerns of Big Data is the breach of privacy. Almost everything online collects user data, often times without user consent or sufficient knowledge of the user.

From websites you visit to phones and computers collecting telemetry data, more and more people are becoming aware that all aspects of their lives are being recorded and being bought by large advertisement firms. With handling of large volumes of data comes the risks of sensitive information breaching and anti-consumer practises growing.

As concerns for privacy start becoming more mainstream, people are starting to pushback against such practises and are looking for means of taking control of their devices and lives. For Big Data, it is of utmost importance to keep privacy concerns in mind going forward.

Companies can ensure this by avoiding collection of too much data, using op-in services for data collection, implement homomorphic encryption, and implementing better cybersecurity tools in general. Data protection laws and mandates might become more common in the future. While laws like the GDPR in the EU help, it is only a small step towards solving a much larger problem.

Here Are My Final Thoughts

There is no doubt that data is one of the most important in the world right now. Peter Sondergaard, the Senior VP and Global Head of Research at Gartner, Inc once said that “information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine.” Data analytics and Business Intelligence is driving the world towards the future, and the rapid change in technology will only fuel its growth.??