Data Analytics Will Go Above and Beyond in 2020
A small set of trends in data management and analytics will determine whether 2020 will be a year of success or struggle for many organizations.
- By Eric Raab
- January 2, 2020
As we enter 2020, we’re one year closer to the IDC projections of IoT devices alone generating nearly 80ZB of data and we’re already reaching a critical mass. What’s to come in the new year will revolve around the fact that there is more information available today than ever before and that this sheer volume of data growth will persist as organizations continue to invest in digital transformation with data-producing connected systems and devices.
We can expect to see some major shifts as organizations start to face -- in earnest -- the challenges of this growing amount of information. This could mark an inflection point as their ability to recognize the changing ecosystem and successfully adapt may predicate overall success for years to come. A few trends in data management and analytics will determine whether 2020 will be a year of success or struggle for many organizations, driven by the growth in adoption of cloud technology, the failings of data visualization to deliver a single source of truth, and the impact of end users running amok with ungoverned processes and putting undue stress on BI tools that are not designed for the scale of the enterprise.
Ultimately, in 2020 we will see organizations split into two groups: those for which the data they produce is a great opportunity and those for which it is a great threat.
2020 Trend #1: Visualization will no longer be enough
With huge amounts of data at their disposal, organizations will be hard pressed to find effective and efficient ways to analyze and interpret insights that add value to their business. Business users are often challenged to make sense of intricate data values or large volumes of information. Data visualization depicts raw information from enterprise sources in a rich, engaging, and visually compelling way to accelerate data exploration and insight discovery.
Still, although that picture may be worth a thousand words, businesses don’t want or need a thousand words -- they need the 20 that give them clear vision and a path of action to create more value. Data visualization solutions display information in easy-to-read charts, maps, plots, and graphs that help business users rapidly identify patterns and trends, detect anomalies, and uncover relationships.
Organizations that will take the lead in the year ahead will take this process a step further by implementing data and analytics solutions that create actionable insight from data automatically -- driven and made frictionless with AI.
The future is about being able to control and manage the entire data value chain -- from connection and mastering to sampling and analyzing to application-building and distribution -- automating and streamlining the entire path to insight and action.
2020 Trend #2: Enterprises will go cloud-native
Organizations using BI and analytics tools fall into one of three groups today: those currently operating in the cloud, those migrating to the cloud, and those discussing a migration to the cloud. They may have been held back in the past by concerns over whether their platform’s architecture is designed to integrate with and exploit a cloud ecosystem, but there are now proven solutions that are purpose-built for cloud-based operation. In 2020 the floodgates will open; organizations will move to the cloud to take advantage of the usability, scalability, and flexibility of cloud-native solutions.
Embracing cloud-based business intelligence and data analytics solutions provides many benefits over traditional infrastructure, such as improved performance, lower upfront investment, and greater flexibility and scalability to handle growth and unanticipated demand. With a cloud-native solution, organizations will have a comprehensive, on-demand platform for analytics and data management -- with less time, lower cost, and reduced risk, and without the need to engage multiple vendors. Cloud becomes an engine for building innovation. Organizations that embrace the cloud see real business benefits, from minimizing time to value and increasing ease of use to improving flexibility and analytics applications.
2020 Trend #3: Intelligence will be embedded in everything
The modern workforce is changing, with more employees working remotely or blurring the lines between personal and work devices and applications. Throughout all of this change, people today expect the same experience in the office that they have at home. That means getting answers and recommendations directly in their workflow rather than going to a separate application and being given the necessary information but no clear, actionable insights.
If employees don’t have that user experience, they won’t use the tools their employer provides. Even if they do, it is not necessarily enough. These user demands will break BI and analytics solutions that aren’t specifically designed for the enterprise from the ground up with a scalable architecture that exploits the cloud. Organizations that haven’t considered the totality of their user experience and solution architecture will be left with data that’s unused or unusable.
In 2020, organizations that have invested in the solutions to manage, analyze, and act on their data will have a clearer view of their business and the path to success than has ever been available to them. Those that have not will be left with a mountain of information they cannot truly understand or responsibly act on, leaving them to make ill-informed decisions or deal with data paralysis.
Business intelligence embedded in everything, available everywhere, and utilized in every decision is the de facto operating rhythm of tomorrow’s organization. The good news is that 2020 will bring us further along that journey with the help of cloud, AI, and an improved experience for the enterprise.
About the Author
Eric Raab is the SVP of engineering at Information Builders, where he focuses on aligning business, technical, and human objectives to deliver increased product value and drive revenue growth. You can reach the author via email or LinkedIn.