Our goal in dealing with this new normal of exponential data growth is to manage the relevant data’s Three Vs -- Volume, Variety and Velocity -- to get to the fourth V, Value. The Four Vs allow for new ways of seeing the business.
Mike Newkirk, SAS
Pairing Big Data with Visual Analytics
Mining millions of rows of data can provide tremendous insight, but it is time-consuming and requires specialized training. Analysts need patience to sort through data to find game-changing information, then present it in a way business users can understand.
By pairing big data with visual analytics, organizations can use all their data and all their variables (rather than samples and subsets). They can explore the data quickly and visually see relationships that lead to where the deep dive of advanced analytical modeling should be focused.
This means domain experts and business managers can explore combinations of variables doing simple “drag and drop” selections, then run a linear regression or correlation analysis to see what emerges visually. When something interesting emerges, it can be passed on to data miners and statisticians for further analysis.
Business users also can use this technology to create simple reports on massive amounts of data without requesting IT help. For example (Figure 2), a car brand manager is asked to assemble a report about parts costs per assembly, per product line, per supplier all by 3 p.m. today. With an in-memory analytics + visualization technology approach, the manager not only creates the report, but also can push it live to mobile devices.
Figure 2: Mobile BI screen shot of interactive report example
After further discussion, the data set could be sent to data scientists to build models and analyze results. Using this technology combo also means executives who want to view different slices of the data or the entire report can get what they need right in the meeting. How much more productive could meetings be if we eliminated the need for “follow-up” with a request for another report?
Not only can you transform your business productivity and effectiveness, visual analytics also deepens your existing advanced analytical capabilities. IT is freed up from creating ad hoc reports. Domain experts can work with the data. Analysts can focus on more sophisticated, predictive analytics. And since more employees can participate in creating the reports, users can even create their own dashboards like this simple, powerful one-page interactive report on profitability shown in several dimensions (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Profitability Interactive Dashboard example
