It is estimated that we generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, so much so that 90% of the data we have today was created in the last two years alone. The problem with all that data is that most of it goes unused; that is, other than being created, little is done with it. A whole new generation of technology innovations evolving around the concepts of business intelligence and data analytics are changing that paradigm.
Until recently, data analytics has been, for the most part, the purview of scientists and academics who had the computing power and the time to slice and dice data in ways the rest of us couldn’t. Leveraging the power of cloud computing and the vast availability of wireless communications to link devices of all types, data analytics engines are being created that can provide insight into the data, taking information from multiple sources – like sensors in the field, data from tractors, financial information from your ERP system – and providing actionable intelligence that can improve the way a business operates.
At Alvarez Technology Group, we recognize the power of using information to improve business outcomes, and we have invested in building a Business Intelligence and Data Analytics group to help our clients gain new insights from the data they already have. Under the direction of Annette Vesely, Director of Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, this team is working with clients to unleash the power of the information they own.
The introduction of cloud-based business intelligence platforms from companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google and others have made it easier to visualize data in real-time using dashboards and graphical user interfaces. Microsoft’s PowerBI platform, which is part of the company’s Office 365 suite, is extremely flexible and easy to implement, allowing us to link multiple sources of data located anywhere in the world to correlate and collate data in ways previously impossible.
One of the fastest growing areas in data analytics is the creation of sophisticated key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards. Humans are, quite frankly, very visual creatures and we absorb and use information better if it is presented to us in chart form, and the data are updated in real-time. Dashboards provide actionable information quickly, at a glance, and more and more business leaders are looking to deploy them as fast as they can within their organizations.
If you are interested in hearing more about business intelligence or want to learn more about our offering, call your account manager or email [email protected].
