Have you noticed how barely a day goes by without a well-respected source talking up the merits of Big Data and Data Analytics? More importantly, have you noticed how the absence of real time integration of the results from data analytics may stymie future opportunities for growth? Enterprises today are looking to move beyond simply having visibility, and even insight, into how their business is performing to where they can gain feedback that is predictive and better contributes to comprehensive understanding of changing behavior. These enterprises are prepared to pay for predictive analytics as that is where a competitive edge lies and all enterprises want to obtain an unfair advantage! “Prescribe for me the steps I need to take to better capitalize on what is now trending,” was how one NonStop vendor recently described the value that comes with integration of data analytics and transaction processing.
In the September 7, 2015, newsletter the Rust Report, published by former IDC Australia Managing Director, Len Rust, this very topic has percolated to the top of his research note. Modernization and digital transformation projects are behind growth in enterprise application software market, an update provided as part of the RUST E-RESEARCH, and according to Rust, research analysts are picking up quickly on the fact that IT is spending large proportions of its IT budgets on modernization, cloud computing and yes, data analytics. With the right product, business solutions will then be able to react to highly-likely scenarios in a way that allows the enterprise to step up and respond to changing behavior well before it’s reflected in purchases of products or services.
In a recent report by Forrester, now available on the web, The Forrester Wave: Big Data Predictive Analytics Solutions, Q2 2015 it isn’t shy in proclaiming, “Good news! Predictive analytics is within easy reach for all enterprises if they choose the right big data predictive analytics solution to meet their needs. This too was the focus in a Forbes Tech report at the end of 2014, that sourced its findings from IDC, 6 Predictions For The $125 Billion Big Data Analytics Market in 2015. “Adoption of technology to continuously analyze streams of events will accelerate in 2015—it’s all about speed and small units of data. Automated decision-making will come of age in 2015 and the organizational implications will be profound. The very way that firms operate and organize themselves will be questioned this year as common workflows become rationalized through analytics.” And in a rather sobering observation, Forbes then adds that, “Companies will increasingly recognize the value of putting an experienced storyteller into the mix (IIA)… possibly looking to fill these positions from the large pool of unemployed journalists?”
I have referenced parts of this RUST E-RESEARCH column in other blog posts this month as it covers a number of topics I follow, but the rise in importance of predictive analytics and the willingness of enterprises to spend big for data analytics products will be well-received by management at Striim. In the recent past it was always assumed that knowledge of its products, its customers and its competitors kept an enterprise in the game and that it was more macro-economic developments that impacted market segments “in toto”. Rising tides lift all boats, seemed to be the extent of the understanding of all that surrounded an enterprise, but no longer!
For the NonStop community this is beginning to hit home. Do we really know how well we are conforming to negotiated SLAs? And do we really know how accurately our databases are synchronized, over distance? Are we the subject of fraudulent transactions? In other words, when you get right down to it, in the complex world that exists inside a multiple location, mixed systems and platforms, data center, is it really all working to our benefit? Changes in behavior first became important for payments processors who represent a sizeable portion of the NonStop community as they wrestled to identify and block fraud as it happened. Successful fraudulent activities meant real money being lost, not to mention reputations being damaged and as has been the case this past year, senior C-level executives shamed into resignation, such that anything that can help with early detection is to be valued.
Striim is right in the thick of helping enterprises better understand behavior and this includes the use of NonStop systems by the NonStop community. Whether it’s the behavior of customers or computers, it matters little when it comes to delivering meaningful insight into what is transpiring right now, and in real time, so that the insight can be acted upon – the tide may have turned with imperceptible evidence to support the gradual fall that surely follows. Being left stranded on a sandbar, incapable of responding to changing conditions, is not the favorite pastime of any C-level executive. On the other hand, failing to make critical investments in predictive analytics software will see enterprises falling on hard times staying afloat, let alone seeing the tides turning, and for all in the NonStop community, it’s never a good thing to have simply missed the boat!
