by Dr. Jane Fitzgerald | Dec 14, 2020 | Business, Data Science
What is Data Analytics?
Data analytics is an inclusive term in the world of data science. It is the analysis of data collected from one or different sources. Trends, patterns, and correlations emerge from the analytics, which remains valuable for business practices.
Firstly, data analytics allows data scientists to gain insights through careful examination of datasets. Management teams use these insights to make informed and strategic business decisions towards future activities. Without data analytics, all data, no matter the size and derived source, is useless.
Secondly, when companies apply data analytics to any big data collected, they can efficiently improve customer service and increase sales turnover. Companies use this strategy to boost competitive performance. Two Components of Data Analytics
Image Credit: Medium
Processing data analytics needs two critical elements for any data initiative to succeed. These are:
Descriptive analytics
Descriptive analytics is the starting phase. It helps in describing historical and relevant trends found in the data. This analytics aims to answer the question of “what happened?”
It’s both a component and a type of analytics too.
As a component, descriptive analytics measures conventional indicators like Return on Investment (ROI). Such an indicator employed differs from industry to industry. Although descriptive analytics doesn’t make predictions or informed actionable decisions, it summarizes datasets in an expressive and meaningful way.
Advanced analytics
Here, the process uses advanced and innovative tools to extract relevant data, make appropriate predictions, and uncover trends.
Tools used in advanced analytics include, but are not limited to, machine learning and classical statistics. Machine learning tools like natural language conversion/processing, sentiment analysis, and neural networks, and more, generate new insight and info from data. Advanced analytics focuses on the question of “What if?”
With the increasing popularity and use of large data sets, machine learning skills, and affordable computing power have made it easier to use these two data analytics techniques in different industries.
Four types of Data Analytics
Descriptive analytics
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What the analytics seeks is the answer to the question, “what happened?” Under this technique, summarizing large datasets explains findings to all stakeholders. Descriptive analytics strategies help businesses to track successful performance or failures using KPI (key performance indicators) and metrics like ROI to gauge past performance. Diagnostic analytics
Diagnostic analytics is the technique that seeks to answer why certain things happened. The process takes information from the descriptive-analytical level and further studies to unravel the root of the problem. Any performance indicator calls for more investigation to know why they got worse or better.
Predictive analytics
The predictive analytics technique focuses on events that would happen in the future. Using historical data, machine learning, and statistical methods, the study of patterns and trends tracks the possibility of reoccurrence. The outcome will be very valuable.
Prescriptive analytics
The presence of this technique offers solutions to the problem. By employing insights gotten from descriptive analytics, we gain inspired decisions. Also, it relies on machine-learning tactics capable of finding patterns in massive data sets.
Conclusion
Data analytics is a critical aspect of data science that data scientists should understand. Its application in everyday activities is almost endless. New business opportunities arise as a result of the continuous generation of data.
by Dr. Jane Fitzgerald | Dec 12, 2020 | Blockchain, Emerging Technology
Blockchain is an encrypted distributed database that records data. It can also be explained as a digital archive of all transactions and contracts that need to be registered independently. One of blockchain’s key advantages is that it is accessible through hundreds of thousands of computers and not limited to one location. The technology has already started to threaten the financial services market and also establishes the digital currency for a Bitcoin transaction.
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With Blockchain technology in the financial sector, participants can interact directly and transact over the internet without third party interference; these transactions via blockchain do not share participant personal information and create a transaction record by encrypting identifying details. Blockchain’s most thrilling feature is that it significantly reduces the risk of a data breach. In contrast to traditional processes, multiple shared copies of the same database are present in the blockchain. This makes it difficult to perform any data violations attack or cyber attack. With all the characteristics that resist fraud, blockchain technology can revolutionize various business sectors and make processes more intelligent, secure, transparent, and efficient than traditional business processes.
Benefits of Blockchain Technology
- Direct transactions that eliminate overheads and intermediary costs.
- Highly secure due to cryptographic and blockchain’s decentralized protocols.
- Increased time effectiveness due to real-time transactions.
- More transparent processes with proper record creation and tracking.
- Reduced risks related to cybercrimes, frauds, and tampering.
Applications of Blockchain Technology in Various Industries
Blockchain’s technology enhances many sectors such as Financial Services, Education, Government, Travel and Entertainment, Retail, and CPG.
Financial services
Blockchain technology, in many innovative ways, has already been implemented in the financial services sector. By offering an integrated trading lifecycle, blockchain technology simplifies and streamlines the entire process associated with asset management and payments, allowing all participants to access the same transaction data. It eliminates the need for brokers or intermediaries and guarantees accountability and effective transactional data management.
Healthcare
By increasing the privacy, security, and interoperability of the healthcare data, blockchain plays a crucial role in the medical sector. It can solve several interoperability challenges in the sector. The various organizations and people involved in the process can safely share data among themselves. By eliminating third-party intrusion, overhead costs decrease, and with secure encryptions, distributed databases store health records and digital signatures in blockchain to ensure confidentiality and authenticity.
Government
The technology of blockchain has the potential to change government processes and services. It can play a key role in improving data transaction challenges in the government’s current silo sector. The proper connection and sharing of data with blockchain allow better data management between several departments. It enhances transparency and strengthens transaction tracking and auditing processes.
CPG and Retail
The retail market could benefit greatly from Blockchain technology implementation. What the database will do is ensure that high-quality goods are genuinely authentic, prevent fraudulent transactions, find stolen items, enable virtual guarantees, manage loyalty points, and streamline supply chain operations.
Travel and hospitality
Blockchain’s application can change the travel and hospitality industry radically. Money transactions, storing key documents such as passports/other ID cards, reservations, and travel management, loyalty, and rewards can be processed through Blockchain.
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Key Challenges of using Blockchain Technology
Lack of understanding and knowledge of the technological concept are the main challenges of using it in non-financial services industries. The problems associated with the current legacy of corporate infrastructures and the lack of sufficient technological expertise are major barriers to blockchain’s widespread adoption. Adopting blockchain often means shifting culture from conventional ways of doing stuff, as it entails a significant change towards decentralizing the entire process. Compliance with current regulations and maintaining the privacy and protection needed for shared databases also adds to the key roadblocks in blockchain adoption.
The world of business will yet thoroughly explore the distinctions of the blockchain concept. Yet, we expect that the business world will soon see the vast potential of this technology with ongoing research and development in this field and to push a new wave of decentralized applications.
by Dr. Jane Fitzgerald | Oct 27, 2020 | Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Industrial IoT
What is IIoT and its Link to Manufacturing?
The IIoT is part of a broader framework called the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is a network of smart computers, devices, and objects that gather and share vast amounts of data. The data collected is sent to a central cloud-based service. Here, compiled with other data, end-users find it useful. IoT can improve the automation of homes, classrooms, stores, and many industries.
Implementing the IoT to the manufacturing industry refers to the IIoT (or Industrial Internet or Industry 4.0). It revolutionizes the production process, allowing much more data collection and storage at far higher speeds and far more effectively than before. A host of innovative companies began using smart connected devices in their factories to introduce the IIoT.
What are the Benefits of IIoT?
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For industrial organizations, the IIoT may significantly improve communication, performance, scalability, time savings, and cost savings. Because of predictive maintenance, improved safety, and other operational efficiencies, companies are already benefiting from it through cost savings. IIoT networks of intelligent devices enable manufacturing companies to break open data silos and connect their people, data, and processes from the factory floor to the executive offices. Business leaders can use IIoT data to provide a comprehensive and detailed insight into how their company is doing, which will help them make informed decisions.
Protocols
One of the issues encountered during the IIoT transition is that various edge-of-network devices have historically used different protocols to send and receive data. Many different communication protocols are currently in use, such as OPC-UA. The transfer protocol Message Queueing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) is rapidly emerging as the standard for IIoT, due to its lightweight overhead, publish/subscribe model, and bidirectional capabilities. Read more on MQTT here.
Challenges
The two biggest challenges surrounding IIoT implementation are probably interoperability and security. As technology writer Margaret Rouse observes: “Industrial IoT is a major concern about interoperability between devices and machines that use different protocols and have different architectures.” For this, Ignition is an excellent solution because it is cross-platform and based on open-source, IT-standard technologies.
Companies need to know how secure their data is. The proliferation of sensors and other intelligent, connected devices led to a parallel explosion of security vulnerabilities; this is another factor in MQTT’s growth. It’s a very stable protocol.
The Future of the IIoT
The IIoT remains one of the fundamental phenomena that today and in the future impact industrial enterprises. Industries push for the modernization of systems and equipment to comply with new regulations, maintain increasing speed and volatility, and deal with disruptive technologies. Companies that have embraced the IIoT have seen significant improvements in safety, efficiency, and profitability. This trend will continue as the technologies grow widely.
The Ignition IIoT system significantly increases industrial organizations’ communication, performance, scalability, time savings, and cost savings. It can unite people and processes on the plant’s floor to those on the enterprise’s level. It also enables companies to get the most value out of their system without being limited by technological and economic constraints. For these and more reasons, Ignition offers the ideal forum for bringing IIoT’s power into your company.
by Dr. Jane Fitzgerald | Oct 19, 2020 | Data Science, Information Technology
Why is Storytelling Essential in Business Intelligence?
For Business Intelligence, there is more beyond just portraying data. Expressing what data stands for is crucial since it is something that impacts every area of our lives daily.
Of course, it has become more vital for business organizations to know how to manage and effectively use larger data sources. However, obtaining the inherent benefits is also crucial, through data exploitation by way of storytelling.
Why tell stories in business?
Storytelling is the best way businesses can improve Business Intelligence (BI) visual Analytical tools such as
Image Credit: Flickr
Dashboards. Storytelling helps to interpret and explain the components (e.g., tables or graphs) of such visualization tools.
Nothing moves people better than stories. They do not only inform listeners but also inspire positive actions. Professionally constructed data stories help turn the primary data, the dispersion diagram, and the bar diagrams into compelling, actionable messages.
Like Steve Job aptly put it, “the most powerful person in the entire world is none but the storyteller.”
Data scientists and the people responsible for managing data may find their data results obvious, but what about their target audience? Businesses can close that wide gap in knowledge and employ analytical logic to guide their audience to align more with the company’s aims and objectives.
Let’s get one thing straight! Data storytelling is not the easiest of tasks. However, it is one thing business management teams cannot ignore. Businesses’ ability to tell stories with their data is now a necessary analytical skill in business best practice.
What are the requirements for effective data storytelling projects?
The basic requirements you need to make your business intelligence storytelling a successful project include tools like Microsoft Power Business Intelligence tool as a benchmark for data storytelling experience in the following order ;
Image Credit: Needpix
Flexible Transition
It is not easy to export visualizations from one given source to another to create a great BI story. The process does not only take time, but the analytical tools used for exploration and creation of data visualizations are different from those used to create BI stories. The tools’ differences also reduce the chances of embedding the annotations or metadata generated during the analysis.
For creators to export it, the storytelling setting comprises the metadata. Then analysis instantly converted under fluid and integrated processes to reduce the time and effort needed, which is what Microsoft Power BI guarantees.
Integration
BI story creators must have the right tools that help in combining all the necessary materials to produce their story. These materials include interactive visualizations, BI reports, and smart ways of indicating the story’s structure, a sequence in story presentation, highlighting capabilities, and more. Microsoft Power BI in MS PowerPoint embedded these requirements.
Focusing tools
These tools help achieve visual narrating, focusing on drawing attention towards particular visualization data, such as annotating, coloring, highlighting, and zooming (in and out). With Microsoft Power BI, you have full customization for compelling storytelling.
Interactive visualization
MS Power BI, you can achieve efficient visualization in the narrations that you shared. It also gives you full control regarding what pages can be viewed by users taking part in the report sharing process.
Reusing similar story structure
While BI data and report changes from one analysis to the other, the stories’ structure remains virtually unchanged. Therefore, users must be able to reuse the same story structure created in the same tool. As usual, MS Power BI makes provision for this.
Conclusion
With the right tools at your disposal, your business can achieve an effective BI storytelling project through the MS Power BI tool. It will make customers aware and keep your target audience engage with your business message.
by Dr. Jane Fitzgerald | Oct 5, 2020 | Industrial IoT
DynaGrace Enterprises, a Data Science, Emerging Technology, and IIoT Automation WOSB Firm, has added another quality line of products to the GSA Multiple Award Schedules (MAS).
Our GSA MAS federal government contracting vehicle enables us to reach more facility managers focused on clean energy initiatives. By modernizing facilities to updated codes, standards, and green building modern technologies, help them achieve their energy goals. Modernizing facilities keep workers safe and healthy. By adding building automation products from The S4 Group increases our ability to provide products that keep workers safe and save energy. ~Linda Rawson, President and Founder of DynaGrace Enterprises
Ideal Solution
The S4 Group’s suite of S4 Open Appliances is an ideal solution for building operators looking for technology to support retrofits and upgrades of buildings with legacy, proprietary building automation systems. The S4 technology facilitates a coordinated, phased approach, avoiding the cost and disruption of a brute force rip-and-replace approach.
The S4 Open: BACnet-N2 Router from the S4 Group
The S4 Open Appliances integrate installed legacy BAS systems and introduce the best of current breed generation standards-based operator workstations. The appliances provide, global control, and value-added applications such as analytics, energy management, or continuous commissioning. The S4 Open Appliances are the only products that provide co-existence with legacy head-end technology. The products become the first step in a long-term plan to replace legacy field devices with current generation open systems. Especially when budget and occupancy requirements can be best accommodated.
Upgrading Legacy Building Automation Systems
Providing technology to quickly and cost-effectively upgrade and transition legacy Building Automation Systems to current BACnet-based technology is an exciting prospect. Especially for helping DoD and other Government entities. The availability of the same capabilities previously offered to commercial building owners will help DoD make their buildings more energy-efficient, and improve indoor environments, resulting in more productive occupants. ~Steve Jones, The S4 Group
DynaGrace Enterprises and The S4 Group have teamed up to enable the transition of older facilities to BACnet-enabled smart buildings. Energy efficiency, indoor air quality, occupant safety, and comfort are all improved. Facility managers across the government sector will benefit from better visibility to the status of their buildings. The managers will also enjoy better options to control operations.
Customers can learn more about DynaGrace Enterprises by visiting the company’s website at DynaGrace.com or by calling the company directly at 888-676-0058. DynaGrace Enterprises is a Data Science, Emerging Technology and IIoT Automation Firm located in Utah.
