Tag: Data Analyst

Big Data Analytics: Using Business Intelligence Tools – 7/11/17 in Ortigas

A good analyst uses Business Intelligence Tools like Batman uses devices stored in his utility belt.

Per Wikipedia, business intelligence (BI) tools are “a type of application software designed to retrieve, analyze, transform and report data for business intelligence. The applications generally read data that have been previously stored, often, though not necessarily, in a data warehouse or data mart.”

Knowing what business intelligence tool to employ to what data set in order to conduct analysis and present your findings requires a thorough understanding of what tools are available and what they can do.

The key general categories of business intelligence applications include:

  • Spreadsheets
  • Reporting and querying software: applications that extract, sort, summarize, and present selected data
  • Online analytical processing (OLAP)
  • Digital dashboards
  • Data mining
  • Process visualization
  • Data warehousing

By far the most common business intelligence tool used is MS Excel. Having at least a intermediate masterly of Excel is a good start in understanding how business intelligence tools work.

Learning to run formulas, insert pivot tables and produce simple visualizations using charts and graphs give a foundation in how to take data and do something with it to inspire analysis.

Using Excel also teaches you how data needs to be structured, formatted and managed. You can’t run even basic analysis activities if your data is not encoded in a way that your tools can make sense of.

Once you have mastered the use of Excel then the logical next step is using BI tools that pull data from Excel. For example, Tableau is a BI tool that can extract data from Excel to build more powerful data analysis and visualizations.

BI tools can also be used to mine data from large data storage systems like data warehouses, data lakes and data marts. Again, understanding how data is structured in important. Knowing how queries are written (for example in SQL) to extract data is important.

If you are looking to get a better understanding of what tools you should be using to analysis the data in your business, you can join my next training seminar (July 11, 2017) in Ortigas.

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Analytics Training – DMAIPH offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience. If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

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Survey Results: Devote More Time For Data Analysis

Most Analysts Spend 50% of Their Time Finding Data

% Finding Analyzing Reporting
10 12% 6% 33%
20 14% 10% 39%
30 20% 31% 24%
40 6% 14% 2%
50 31% 16% 2%
60 14% 18% 0
70 0% 0% 0
80 0% 2% 0
90 0% 0 0
100 0% 0 0
       

Most analysts spend most of their time finding data.

Among other thing this can mean they are setting up data mining or data gathering process to look for the data or it can mean they reviewing their data for relevancy.

My experience is that when you spending this much time on the finding the right data phase it reflects a poorly structured data environment or a unfamiliarity with the data needed.

Dirty data is also a big time waste.

Experience is the best solution for challenges with finding data. The fact the finding phase % is so high speaks to both the explosion in the 3 V’s of Big Data (Velocity, Volume and Variety)  as well as the number of analytics newbies.

To me this should be no more than 20% of your time.

I expected finding data would be the biggest chunk, but was surprised that over 50% of my analyst connections using at least 40% of their time finding data.

If you have one day to answer a key business question, this means you are using your entire morning just finding the data.

When you get back from lunch you haven’t even started the actual analysis yet and the clock is ticking.

Data is based on a survey I sent to 3,000 of my LinkedIn connections who are either analysts or work closely with data and analysis.

Analytics Survey – DMAIPH conducts quarterly analytics surveys to collect data on current trends in analytics. We specialize in surveys that assess analytics culture and measuring how aligned an organization is to using data and analytics  in its decision-making. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to find out more about how DMAIPH can conduct surveys to help you assess the analytics culture in your business.

Most Analysts Spend 50% of Their Time Finding Data

Most analysts spend most of their time finding data.

% Finding Analyzing Reporting
10 12% 6% 33%
20 14% 10% 39%
30 20% 31% 24%
40 6% 14% 2%
50 31% 16% 2%
60 14% 18% 0
70 0% 0% 0
80 0% 2% 0
90 0% 0 0
100 0% 0 0
       

In fact, most analysts I know spend 50% of their time finding data.

Among other thing this can mean they are setting up data mining or data gathering process to look for the data or it can mean they reviewing their data for relevancy.

My experience is that when you spending this much time on the finding the right data phase it reflects a poorly structured data environment or a unfamiliarity with the data needed.

Dirty data is also a big time waste.

Experience is the best solution for challenges with finding data. The fact the finding phase % is so high speaks to both the explosion in the 3 V’s of Big Data (Velocity, Volume and Variety)  as well as the number of analytics newbies.

To me this should be no more than 20% of your time.

I expected finding data would be the biggest chunk, but was surprised that over 50% of my analyst connections using at least 40% of their time finding data.

If you have one day to answer a key business question, this means you are using your entire morning just finding the data.

When you get back from lunch you haven’t even started the actual analysis yet and the clock is ticking.

Data is based on a survey I sent to 3,000 of my LinkedIn connections who are either analysts or work closely with data and analysis.

Analytics Survey – DMAIPH conducts quarterly analytics surveys to collect data on current trends in analytics. We specialize in surveys that assess analytics culture and measuring how aligned an organization is to using data and analytics  in its decision-making. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to find out more about how DMAIPH can conduct surveys to help you assess the analytics culture in your business.

Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence

Enabling Your Business to Make Smarter Decisions

Are you tired of being under constant pressure to make the right number-based decisions for your organization?

Are you too often overwhelmed by an out-of-control flood of numerical information, much of it conflicting and confusing?

Big data is booming ast as organizations devote new technology resources to tapping the terabytes (if not petabytes) of data flowing into their organizations.

Today big Data is flooding into the business both through internal processes and externally via social media.

What does this all mean for business intelligence (BI) users and systems?

With all the attention on advanced analytics for big data, what’s the play for BI?

Integrating advanced analytics for big data with BI systems is an important step toward gaining full return on investment.

Advanced analytics and BI can be highly complementary.

Advanced analytics can provide the deeper, exploratory perspective on the data.

BI systems provide a more structured user experience through there richness in dashboard visualization, reporting, performance management metrics, and more can be vital to making advanced analytics actionable.

Recently on December 6, 2016 I was at Astoria Plaza, Ortigas Center, Pasig City for a dynamic and empowering one-day training on Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence.

Course Description:

Make smarter business decisions using these powerful data analysis techniques

Information is supposed to make us smarter, but more often than not, it simply overwhelms us.

This program is for you if you feel like you’re drowning in data and unsure which data to use to drive your company initiatives.

The truth is that the amount of data available to help run your business is greater than ever before. To effectively use this information, managers must consider the practical side of big data…what matters to you is how do you grow and build a team to make smarter decisions.

Much of the information out there just discusses the promise of the data deluge. The challenge is not the volume of data but rather the judgment needed to use it.

This seminar goes beyond the qualitative side of data analysis to explore proven quantitative techniques and technologies for identifying, inventorying and integrating data, so that more informed and reliable business decisions can be made.

Learning Objectives



  • Apply Best Techniques and Cutting Edge Technologies to Organize, Interpret, and Summarize Quantitative Data
  • Create a Process to Analyze Data and Identify Patterns Not Apparent at First Glance
  • Reduce “Analysis Paralysis” and Go from Hard Data to Well-Reasoned Conclusions in Less Time

What Was Learned

  • Specific skills to effectively frame the problem you’re addressing to uncover key opportunities and drive growth
  • Critical marketing steps of orientation necessary before engaging tools and technology
  • How to simply and quickly amplify decision making by separating the signal from the noise
  • A framework for asking the right questions, allowing the ability to link analytics to business strategy

What Was Covered

  • Using data and statistics effectively in business today
  • Improper data manipulations and their consequences
  • Exploring quantitative data collection methods
  • Improving analysis success by effectively utilizing software
  • Understanding regression, trend lines, and scenarios in Excel
  • Utilizing the power of business intelligence software
  • Finding and analyzing data patterns, trends, and fluctuations
  • Interpreting and translating data into decisions

Who Attended

Over 80 business professionals who needed to learn more about the basic tools to quantitatively and accurately analyze the mountains of data that come across their desk each minute of every day.

Section One

Big Data—It’s Not Just Size

  • Describe the Importance of Effectively Analyzing Big Data in Business Today
  • Come up with a Data Map to Analyze the Big Data in your business.
  • Establish Clear Objectives When Analyzing Big Data
  • Recognize and Apply Various Data Collection Methods
  • Identify and Resolve Problems Associated with Data Collection
  • Discuss the difference between Data Warehouses and Data Lakes
  • Determine when to use Data Blending in your analysis

Section Two

Analysis—Using Business Intelligence Tools

  • Assess Your Current Analytics Culture
  • Describe the Issues and Trends in Today’s Analytics Field
  • Optimize your use of MS Excel for Big Data analytics
  • Discuss the concept of Data Visualization
  • Utilize BI Tools like Tableau Public
  • Build a Business Dashboard Prototype

Section Three

Interpretation—Assessing Results

  • Articulate the Importance of Accurately Interpreting Data
  • Determine and Analyze Risk, Uncertainty, and Probability
  • Spot Patterns, Trends, and Fluctuations Through Correlation, Regression, and Descriptive Statistics
  • Understand when to employ Descriptive, Predictive or Prescriptive Analytics
  • Build Data Models

Section Four

The Art of Presenting Big Data

  • Apply a Process to Present Big Data Clearly
  • Select the Appropriate Presentation Format to Communicate Your Findings Effectively to Your Audience
  • Master the Power of Enchantment
  • Use Findings from Big Data to Drive Decisions Within Your Organization

Too often people dive into the data only to be lost in haze of data.

This discussion will be pragmatic and immediately applicable to analysts, professional using analytics and managers of analysts across all industries.

Analytics Training – DMAIPH in partnership with Ariva Events Management, offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience. If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

DMAIPH Quick Data Survey

A few months back I sent a quick survey to 3,000 of my LinkedIn connections who are either analysts or work closely with data and analysis.

Here is the question I asked.

Greetings!  I’m hoping you can help me gather some data for a book I’m working on. If you had to breakdown the work you do into 3 buckets; finding data, analyzing data and reporting data, what would the % of each be? A quick reply with your breakdown would be hugely helpful in my research. Thanks!   Dan Meyer, Analytics Champion, www.dmaiph.com

I got back over 400 replies.

Here is how they broke down.

 

% Finding Analyzing Reporting
10 12% 6% 33%
20 14% 10% 39%
30 20% 31% 24%
40 6% 14% 2%
50 31% 16% 2%
60 14% 18% 0
70 0% 0% 0
80 0% 2% 0
90 0% 0 0
100 0% 0 0
       

The higher the %, the more each analyst spent time doing that particular phase of analytics.

Here are some of my takeaways from this simple (and very nonscientific survey)

  • I was surprised to see 45% spend half their time or more on finding data. To me this is one of the telling signs that Big Data has led to a shortage of top analytics talent.
  • Only 1 out of 4 analysts are spending 20% of less of their time finding data. These are generally senior analysts, well established in their company.
  • Only half of my analyst connections are spending 40% of more of their time on conducting analysis. With significant time spent on finding and/or reporting data you can imagine a lot of important discoveries are being missed and opportunities lost.
  • Only 1 out of 3 analysts are getting spend my recommended 50% or more of their time actually doing analysis work.
  • Based on my survey, reporting gets shortchanged a lot. All in, 96% of respondents spend 30% of their time of less on reporting.
  • My recommendation is that you spend about 30-40% of your time on the reporting aspect, and sadly only 4% of my analytics connections are able to do that.

In an ideal world, I would expect an analyst to spend no more the 30% of their time on finding data, and at least 30% on reporting their findings, leaving more or less 40% to do the actual analysis.

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This breakdown is based on my own experience as an analyst as well as seeing how analyst working for data-driven companies work.

Only about 30% of my 400+ analytics focused LinkedIn connections come close to meeting my recommended breakdowns.

Which means I have a lot of work to do.

Analytics Survey – DMAIPH conducts quarterly analytics surveys to collect data on current trends in analytics. We specialize in surveys that assess analytics culture and measuring how aligned an organization is to using data and analytics  in its decision-making. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to find out more about how DMAIPH can conduct surveys to help you assess the analytics culture in your business.

 

Data Analytics to the Rescue

I am a big fan of super hero movies.

One of the reasons why is that in many ways I consider myself to be somewhat of a super hero.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, a super hero is “a figure endowed with extraordinary or superhuman powers which are used for fighting evil.”

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In my world, evil is analogous to ignorance… or the lack of information needed to make good decisions.

I live to fight this fight.

My extraordinary gifts are being blessed with a keen analytical mind and the ability to empower others to unleash their analytical abilities.

Analytics was not my career choice, but my innate curiosity and passion for answering questions put me in a position to become an analytics expert.

I have all the training and skills an educator needs, but instead of teaching in the classroom I train out in the business world.

On February, 21, 2017 I will be hosting a training on Data Analytics. E-mail us at analytics@dmaiph.com to register or get more info.

This will be so awesome.

I get to do what I do best.

And I get to do it in my adopted homeland.

I get to use my gifts to help Filipino professional unlock the curiosity buried inside them and use that to help empower more data-driven decisions in their organization.

#IamDMAIPH

Analytics Training – DMAIPH offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience. If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

The Secret to Being a Great Analyst

The secret behind just about anything successful is having a plan.

What is your analytics plan?

How will you empower analysts to add value?

What data techniques can you learn to have a greater impact?

How can you get your hands on new technologies to enhance the way you work with data?

You need a plan.

An analytics action plan.

An analytics strategy plan.

An analytic roadmap.

Whatever you call it, you need a plan that combines the right analytics talent, the right analytics techniques and the right analytics technology.

You need to build a map of how your data flows through your business.

You need to identify people in your organization that are curious and comfortable using data to make decisions.

If you are ready to build your analytics plan and need to ensure it will achieve you goals, I will be facilitating a training class on February 21 in Ortigas. Send us an e-mail to analytics@dmaiph.com to register or to get more information.

I will help you come up with an analytics plan to help you start taking advantage of the business data you have in order to increase efficiency and grow profits.

Analytics Training – DMAIPH offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience. If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

 

3 Tips to Maximize the Potential in Your Data

Data is the lifeblood of the 21st Century business.

If you aren’t using your business data to optimize your processes, increase your profits and fuel your decision-making, then you are behind the times.

So let me give you 3 tips to maximize the potential in your business data.

Tip #1 – Map Out Your Data Environment

Tip #2 – Identify Your Data Geeks

Tip #3 – Get On the Same Page

Most businesses don’t have a good map of how their data flows through their business. Just about every employee, every team and every location is stock full of data that can be useful. But, in most businesses there is little understanding of how it is all connected.

You need to know how data is acquired, how it is stored, and how it is accessed. How often is it refreshed? How clean is it? How valid is it? If you have answers to these questions you can build a map of your business data. Like a flowchart.

As you map out the flow of data in your business, you can also identify the data geeks in your business. The ones who understand the value of using data to make decisions. The curious ones who ask a lot of questions. You need to empower these people.

Once you have a data map and you have brought together your data geeks, then you need to get them all on the same a page.

I’d suggest bringing in a consultant who can give you a new and unbiased perspective on how to deal with analytics roadblocks. Places, processes and people in the business who aren’t in synch.

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Another option would be to send the team to a training class facilitated by an expert… someone like me.

If you need a place for your team of data geeks to get outside the box an get on the same page, I will be facilitating a training class on February 21 in Ortigas.  Send us an email @ analytics@dmaiph.com to sign up or request more details. 

I will help you come up with a analytics action plan to help you start taking advantage of the business data you have in order to increase efficiency and grow profits.

Analytics Training – DMAIPH offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience. If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

Unlock the Power in Your Data Using Analytics – All Attendees Get A Copy of My Book!

E-mail us at analytics@dmaiph.com to register for the training or to request more information! 

By now just about everyone knows that there is almost limitless opportunity buried in their business data. The big question facing business analysts, leaders, managers, and owners is how do I unlock that potential.

For a lot of us, we just aren’t sure where to start.

Do we go out and hire an expert analyst or data scientist and hope they can make it all work out?

Do we buy a new business intelligence or data modeling software and hope our current team can figure it out?

Do we send our people to training so they can learn new ways to identify, inventory and integrate business data into our decision-making processes?

Well, successful companies do all three. They line up the talent, technology and technique to empower the business with solid analytics.

Hiring a new employee or brining in a consultant will help you address the lack of talent you have working with your business data. Curious people, adept at working with technology and being able to translate your business questions in to valuable insights is generally step one.

As you bring that new person into the fold though, it is just as important to make sure your team is ready to start using more data in their business processes. You can’t expect one person to fix it all, you need to open up your business culture to embrace more data-driven decision-making.

Once you have the talent in place then I suggest you focus on technique.

Invest in some training to get everyone on the same page. If you have a technological solution in mind, then have them trained on that too. So much time is lost because people tasked with analytics are under trained.

Then, when you have everything lined up. That’s when you spend on a software solution. New tools for data acquisition, storage, analysis and reporting generally fail if you don’t have the talent and technique in place first.

If you still aren’t sure how to get started, I will be facilitating a training class on February 21, 2017 at Discovery Suites in Ortigas.

I will help you come up with a analytics action plan to help you start taking advantage of the business data you have in order to increase efficiency and grow profits.

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Analytics Training – DMAIPH offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience. If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.

Data Analytics Training on Feb 21

Did you know that most successful businesses have solid data analytics in place across their entire organization?

Organizations that invest in data analytics generally make much better business decisions then one’s that don’t.

In fact, IBM found a few years back that companies who use data analytics are up to 10x more efficient and 33% more profitable the ones who don’t.

By bringing data together data from across the business, companies can get real-time insights into finance, sales, marketing, product development and much more.

Data analytics enables each team within the business to collaborate, achieve better results and outsell the competition.

Join us on February 21, 2017 in Ortigas, and learn how to turn your business data into insightful and actionable analysis.

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Analytics Training – DMAIPH offers a wide range of analytics centric training solutions for professionals and students via public, in-house, on-site, and academic settings. We tailor each training event to meet the unique needs of the audience. If you need empowerment and skills enhancement to optimize the use of analytics in your organization, we are here to help. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to set up a free consultation on which of our DMAIPH analytics training solutions is best for you.