DIA Webinar Recap: Trends in Data Analytics — From Database to Analyst

Author:   FSFP December 18, 2017
Events and Webinars

Webinar presenters Kelle O'Neal and John Ladley led webinar participants through what's trending in these four areas and how to ride the trends:

  • What's Trending – People
    • Culture will remain the number one obstacle to successful analytics, governance, Big Data and data monetization.
    • Training as part of culture — and specifically training in “being data-driven” — will be a core requirement for organizational leadership.
    • Roles/titles of the CDO (be that Digital, Data or both) and the Chief Analytics Officer, will need to be clarified.
    • A "people plan" and a good RACI/RASCI chart will be critical requirements as roles and functions evolve.
  • How to Ride the People Trends
    • Plan on revisiting your organizational charts — maybe a few times.
    • Prepare the organization for evolving roles and new job descriptions.
    • Work to improve IT/Business collaboration.
    • Of course, prepare a good plan for sustaining your Big Data program and related data governance.
  • What's Trending – Technology
    • Database technology will require an open mind to leverage innovations such as graph technology.
    • Blockchain will continue to expand, so it needs to be explored and evaluated as a possible architectural component and profit-driver.
    • Predictive analytics evolution as a mainstream enterprise capability will continue to grow significantly.
    • The Internet of Things (IoT) and lowering latencies will require more throughput and need for speed.
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning will require further understanding of more mainstream considerations.
    • Data lake management tools will evolve, and you may need to consider switching your current approach.
    • Cognitive learning will enter the vocabulary of enterprise architects.
    • Technologies will swing back to be more general and less purpose-built overall.
  • How to Ride the Technology Trends
    • Look into and experiment with graph database technology. This will be a vital element of metadata tools.
    • Prepare for Edge Computing if you are doing IoT.
    • Get smarter about Blockchain, even if there may not be an obvious use for it in your organization.
    • Track, monitor and learn about data lake and other Big Data technology.
    • Get serious about how low your latency requirements are and be honest. You may need to make a shift in your current technology strategy.
    • Make sure you understand what AI and Machine Learning really mean — and, like latencies, make sure you clearly define what is needed.
  • What's Trending – Data
    • Data sources will grow with demand in the market as more organizations monetize their data.
    • Regulations will expand (e.g. the General Data Protection Regulation, ePrivacy) and require a more rigorous understanding of your data landscape.
    • Smart data and actionable data will become the new focus as organizations do less with Big Data for data’s sake.
    • The IoT will have a tremendous impact on Big Data sources and volumes.
  • How to Ride the Data Trends
    • If monetizing data as a revenue source, implement “product management” practices.
    • In considering new data sources, make sure you have clear policies and governance over external data procurement and storage. Review all cloud storage agreements.
    • The regulatory activity will make the need for a documented data landscape inevitable. If you don’t know what data you have or where it lives, get started.
    • Start to think of "smart data." Consider your overall data strategy and use the entire data portfolio to be smart.
  • What's Trending – Process
    • Digital transformation and “being data-driven” will become less of an option.
    • Innovation is shifting to efficiency and sustainability, amid a highly dynamic product landscape.
    • Data monetization will require new business processes to manage data products, data-centric internal programs and data supply chains.
    • Data governance is becoming even more of a requirement at leading organizations.
  • How to Ride the Process Trends
    • Define and build “being data-driven” into planning processes such as annual planning, budgeting, resourcing, etc.
    • Be flexible with your product procurement to leverage the dynamic market.
    • Put your process-design hat on.
    • Recognize the need to adapt data governance to be more agile/targeted to support ever-changing business and industry requirements.

We encourage you to listen to the full one-hour presentation of Trends in Data Analytics, which you can find in DATAVERSITY's webinar archive. (View or download our presentation material here.)

Up Next: Create an Analytics-Driven Culture

Our Data Insights & Analytics webinar series heads into its second year next month with a look at what it takes to develop and sustain an analytics-driven culture. We hope you make plans to join Kelle and John for the Keys to Creating an Analytics-Driven Culture webinar on Thursday, January 4.

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