Infotech Lead Asia: Tableau Software, a provider of business intelligence software, has shared top 10 trends for Business Intelligence in 2013
1. Proliferation of data stores: Once upon a time, an organization had different types of data: CRM, point of sale, email, and more. 2013 is the year we will recognize that having all your data in one fast data warehouse is passé. Big data could be in places like Teradata and Hadoop. Transactional data might be in Oracle or SQL Server. The right data stores for the right data and workload will be seen as one of the hallmarks of a great IT organization, not a problem to be fixed.
2. Hadoop is real: Back in 2008 and 2009 Hadoop was a science project. In 2012, we saw the emergence of many production-scale Hadoop implementations, as well as a crop of companies trying to address pain points in working with Hadoop. In 2013, Hadoop will finally break into the mainstream for working with large or unstructured data.
3. Self-reliance is the new self-service: Self-service BI is the idea that any business user can analyze the data they need to make a better decision. Self-reliance is the coming of age of that concept: it means business users have access to the right data, that the data is in a place and format that they can use, and that they have the solutions that enable self-service analytics
4. The value of text and other unstructured data is recognized: One of the subplots of the rise of Hadoop has been the rise of unstructured data. With the explosion of social data like Twitter and Facebook posts, text analysis becomes even more important.
5. Cloud BI grows up: In 2013 we expect to see the maturation of cloud BI, so that people can collaborate with data in the cloud, just like they collaborate on their Salesforce CRM or help desk data.
6. Visual analytics wins Best Picture: People are finally beginning to realize that visual analytics helps anyone explore, understand and communicate with data. It’s the star of business analytics, not a handy tool for scientists.
7. Forecasting and predictive analytics become common: Forecasting tools are maturing to help businesses identify emerging trends and make better plans. We expect forecasting and predictive analyses to become much more common as people use them to get more value from their data
8. Mobile BI moves up a weight class: Last year we predicted that Mobile BI would go mainstream — and it did. Now everyone from salespeople to insurance adjusters to shop floor managers use tablets to get data about their work right in the moment.
9. Collaboration is not a feature, it’s a reality: In 2013, Collaboration must be at the root of any business intelligence implementation, because what is business intelligence but a shared experience of asking and answering questions about a business?
10. Pervasive analytics are finally pervasive: When we talk more about data, and less about software categories like BI, we get to the crux of maximizing business value — and fast, easy-to-use visual analytics is the key that opens the door to organization-wide analytics adoption and collaboration.
These trends build upon the amazing developments of 2012: databases proliferated, startups formed, visualization and data discovery became increasingly recognized as their own categories. Web-based analytics tools are connecting to web-based data. And everything’s mobile.
