It speaks volumes of the world we live in today when headlines such as “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data” and “Why Data May Be More Valuable Than Dollars” are commonplace. With the explosion of IoT and with that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being created per day, the underlying power of this data comes as no surprise.

Unlike gold however, data is ubiquitous and being created at an exponential rate. So where’s the value in something that is everywhere?…

The evolution of modern technology in the past 10 years is astounding: our mobile phones are becoming smarter by the second, our online behavior is revealing more about human nature and our wearable technology knows more about our general well-being than our family doctor.

This adoption of technology into almost every facet of our life will surely define this epoch as the digital era. We have been talking about the Internet of Things (IoT) for many years now, these “things” being all…

“A company that ceases to grow will die;” a useful albeit slightly morbid mantra for any business trying to make it out there in the big wide world. How can business avoid such an outcome? One answer is by staying relevant, no mean feat in our rapidly changing environment.

Staying relevant is a question of recognising what your customers want and having the ability to deliver that requirement as quickly as possible. Easier said than done, however, with the enormous…

What is data virtualization? Here’s an analogy using a concept that we can all relate to: a supermarket.

Picture the scene: Shopping list in one hand, shopping basket in the other, you’re ready to tackle your weekly shopping in your local supermarket. Your items range from fruit and vegetables to washing detergent, perhaps with some free-range eggs thrown in for good measure. Quite the eclectic mix, but you know that you’ll be able to find all you need under one…

At the Data Science Association our members often complain about the major data engineering problem of finding the right tools and programming models to build both robust data processing pipelines and efficient ETL processes for data transformation and integration.…

Good data is the driving force behind successful marketing. Data can be analyzed to determine what your customers are looking for, what will drive them to purchase, and to establish a best prospect profile. According to a report by GlobalSpec, the primary marketing goals for manufacturers are customer acquisition (43%) and lead generation (29%), with 54% planning to increase marketing spend.…

While large data sets may provide significant value in certain cases, data diversity and integrating smart data points will provide more consistent actionable insights and high value intelligence leading to better decision-making.



For example, consider NFL football data. Focusing on large football game data sets is usually not helpful and often misleading creating…

From episode 10 of my Naked Analyst Channel on YouTube.

I think I do - and it is the ‘appification’ of analytics. What I mean by this is the reduction of a complex analytic activity such as market segmentation, down to a single button on your computer interface. Very much like the…

It’s time to forget the ‘vertical’ perception of Big Data, i.e. vast volumes and ROWSof data, and start to think about the ‘horizontal’ reality and true power of data. TheCOLUMNS of rich, informative data is where your real value lies and where truly smart decisions will be made.



Granted, extensive columns of data will get unmanageable to work with. But this is where data analytics can help…