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Contributed by Ulrik Pedersen, CTO of TARGIT

The emerging and strengthening BI and analytics technology and market trends for the coming year

Nothing is constant but change. And perhaps no market changes faster than that of technology. That's why we at TARGIT are always taking a thoughtful look at how the BI and analytics market has evolved year over year, and predicting where we see it going in the future.

1.       The rise in value of predictive analytics projects

The future is clear with the harnessing of large amounts of actionable data from the Internet of Things

Predictive analytics have largely been a futuristic fantasy for most companies, but 2017 will see a rise in the spread of the types of sensors, algorithms, and technologies that will help companies capture and predict upcoming events, including the harnessing of the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT has been a sexy topic for years now, but there have been few companies with the resources or purpose to take full advantage of the type of valuable predictive insights that could be derived. In-memory in particular has changed that, as it plays an increasingly large role in capturing the type of data necessary to make informed decisions based off of an impending event, like in the case of the fleet management solution provider, Traffilog, which collects and analyzes thousands of rows of data per second to help employees improve performance and managers make better business decisions.

Sensors installed on every vehicle capture not only driver behavior such as speed, degree of turns, and idle time, but mechanical data such as tire pressure, fuel efficiency, and engine performance. This lets employees know instantly when a vehicle needs maintenance so they can take proactive action and plan accordingly before machinery failure of some kind occurs. It also delivers safety and efficiency metrics so drivers know how they stack up against others drivers and how they can specifically improve their safety ratings with better driver behavior.

2.       The stronger need for more powerful data governance

Self-service BI is important, but so is the assurance your data is always correct

As the use of self-service BI continues to grow, companies must place a corresponding focus on data governance. BI users are escaping "Excel hell" with an increasing amount of tools that more easily chart data. But users should be cautious not to mistake any newfound BI freedom for true data integrity. Ease-of-use does not necessarily correlate with data accuracy and consistency. And actually it might be quite the contrary.

More users than ever before are getting their hands dirty with data mash-up, creation of reports, analyses, and dashboards, which could correspond with a rapid dissemination of incorrect data. Just because a spreadsheet can be pulled and mashed up with data that already exists within the data warehouse, does not mean that data is true.

In order to ensure that individual users of BI are free to experiment and explore with data on their own without the IT bottleneck it becomes increasingly important that there are data governance polices in place and that BI and analytics platforms have solid tools in place to help organizations making decisions on the right data at the right time. Today's modern, bimodal solutions will offer robust data governance that raises red flags before imperfect data makes it out of the rounds of "sandboxing" and into the daily workflow, and assures data only makes its way into the hands of those who are meant to see it.

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About the Author

Ulrik Pedersen, CTO, TARGIT

Ulrik joined the TARGIT team as Project Manager in 1999, and it's been an adventure ever since. He has been tackling the challenge of penetrating the North American market with with TARGIT Decision Suite.

Ulrik moved from TARGIT headquarters in my home country of Denmark to our TARGIT offices in Tampa, Fla. From there, he grew the organization in Tampa from a startup team of three people to 25 highly skilled and dedicated individuals, rapidly expanding the number of TARGIT clients in North America. Together, they are revolutionizing data discovery.

Ulrik has a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration, B2B Marketing from Aalborg University.