Analytics Predictions for 2014 suggests Big Data goes mainstream

By
Hayden Richards

December is usually the time when 2014 predictions are released on the topic of big data and analytics. The last 12 months have been quite eventful, where we have seen  rapid developments in analytics, and the emergence of the new Era of Analytics 3.0 and the rise of the Chief Analytics Officer. The IIA, IDC and Alteryx were my 3 most interesting sources, but there was also Gainsight, Tableau and TIBCO. The common theme is that Big Data tech is going down the mainstream path, while highly specialized areas of analytics are becoming more accessible. You will also have to get your head around the fact that we are all Data scientists now.

Predicting BigData

Analytics will continue to grow in importance and impact within high-performing firms, while successful organizations must balance speed, automation and human-involvement as they implement analytics solutions into their business processes. This view is among nine Analytics Predictions for 2014, released in December  by the International Institute for Analytics (IIA), an independent research firm focused exclusively on guiding its clients to leverage the power of analytics. IDC also released its 2014 predictions in a webcast, predicting that the market for big data will reach $16.1 billion in 2014, growing 6 times faster than the overall IT market.

I like the fact that the webinars were led industry thought leaders, for example Alteryx featured, Charles Zedlewski from Cloudera and Ellie Fields from Tableau.  IIA’s efforts were led by IIA Research Director and Co-Founder Thomas H. Davenport, and VP of Research Sarah Gates.

14for14 – Analytic Predictions for 2014 – Alteryx Webinar from Alteryx
A great next year factoid for me is IIA’s prediction that, “the adoption of data visualization will accelerate in both the high and low ends of the complexity spectrum. Does that mean established players like Tableau can be challenged by startups offering a cheaper entry point? The market is definitely there. “The speed with which companies are adopting analytics practices is unprecedented, and only getting faster”, said Jack Phillips, IIA’s CEO.
Here are the IIA’s nine predictions for 2014:
  1. Businesses will continue to shift focus from individual analytics professionals to the formation of effective analytics teams.
  2. Companies will move past the hype surrounding Big Data and seek to embed analytics in business processes to align with core organizational goals.
  3. Organizations will increasingly use analytics to develop new products and services.
  4. Vendors will increase their focus on operationalizing and managing analytic models.
  5. Adoption of analytics as a service will accelerate.
  6. Facial recognition and wearable-device data will be incorporated into predictive analytics.
  7. The use of data visualization will accelerate both in terms of high-complexity and low-complexity information.
  8. There will be a continued shift to machine learning and automation, needed to keep pace with the speed and volume of data.
  9. Companies will focus on creating the optimal mix between automated decision-making and human-intervention, as they seek to operationalize analytics.

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