Business Intelligence (BI) includes the technologies and tools used to analyze and report on different business operations. Business Intelligence uses raw data stored in varying data warehouses, data marts, data lakes, and other storage platforms, and transforms it into actionable knowledge/information assets. Such elements include dashboards, spreadsheets, data visualizations, reports, and many others. According to […]
NoSQL Databases: The Versatile Solution for Continuous Intelligence
Most businesses tend to rely on relational database management systems (RDBMS) to provide business insight, including continuous intelligence. Cloud relational databases have improved computing power they bring to the table, to handle more massive amounts of data. However, relational databases, even ones in the cloud, face two issues. They have a harder time with the […]
What Is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
According to the SAS Institute: “Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. Most AI examples that you hear about today – from chess-playing computers to self-driving cars – rely heavily on deep learning and natural language processing. Using these technologies, computers can […]
Graph Database vs. Document Database: Different Levels of Abstraction
“Remember that every science is based upon an abstraction. An abstraction is taking a point of view or looking at things under a certain aspect or from a particular angle. All sciences are differentiated by their abstraction.” (Fulton Sheen) Graph and document databases (aka document stores), also demonstrate this principle. A few years, graph databases […]
What Is NoSQL?
NoSQL describes a “category of databases built on non-relational technology.” Some believe it is more accurate to define NoSQL more about how the data is stored and less about how to query the database. NoSQL Databases usually fall under four main categories: Document: Stores a business subject in one structure called a document instead of breaking […]
What Is a Knowledge Graph?
A knowledge graph, which can be considered a type of ontology, depicts “knowledge in terms of entities and their relationships,” according to GitHub. An example of a knowledge graph is shown below. Knowledge graphs developed from the need to do something with or act upon information based on context. For example, knowledge graphs help identify […]
What Is Data Visualization?
Data visualization describes the shape of information formed in a graph depicting a particular context. Data visualizations contain contextual information (the metadata) and the actual data, making the information more straightforward for people to process and analyze. According to DAMA-DMBoK2, data visualizations cover traditional BI tools like “tables, pie charts, line charts, area charts, bar […]
What Is Blockchain?
Blockchain is a distributed database and storage devices for the database are not all connected to a common processor. “A blockchain or distributed ledger,” as Gartner describes, “is a mechanism for adding trust in an untrusted environment.” Blockchain’s special capabilities in cryptography lead to this increased trust as a medium. Each transaction has a record. […]
Industry 4.0: Make Data-Driven Decisions Immediately
What if a cyber-physical world — fueled by data — shortened production and manufacturing decisions to the time it takes to adjust a thermostat’s temperature? This just begins to describe Industry 4.0. According to a recent McKinsey article, Industry 4.0 “expects to deliver between $1.2 and $3.7 trillion in value.” Meanwhile, according to Riasat Noor, […]
What Are Data Regulations?
Data regulations describe policies and laws ensuring that processed data is shared or governed appropriately, where the right data assets go to the right place at the right time. Data regulation falls under the umbrella of Data Governance. Advances in technology, such as cloud computing, allow individual’s or company’s data to be stored cheaply and […]