Peter Aiken disagrees with the popular idea that it’s impossible to put a dollar value on Data Architecture. “It won’t be the right number, but it will be at least a dollar value on it, and if there’s money involved, people should be paying attention to it.”Aiken is an author, an associate professor of Information […]
So You Want to be a Data Manager?
A Data Manager develops and governs data-oriented systems designed to meet the needs of an organization or research team. Data Management includes accessing, validating, and storing data that is needed for research and day-to-day business operations. Currently, a wide array of organizations are using Big Data to gain insights into customer behavior and to provide […]
Building a Productive Organization with Artificial Intelligence
There’s plenty of research on employee productivity, which is key to building a profitable and successful business. Engaged employees are likely to put their heart into their jobs – not just go through the motions. Here are some findings that put this into perspective: Happy workers are 13 percent more productive, according to research by […]
The Fundamentals of Deep Reinforcement Learning
Reinforcement Learning (RL), a “niche” Machine Learning technique, has surfaced in the last five years. In context-based decision making, Reinforcement Learning helps the machine take action-provoking decision making through a trial-and-error approach to achieve the optimal algorithmic model for a situation. Furthermore, the machine is trained through a reward/penalty-based feedback mechanism, the goal of which […]
Case Study: Jerry’s Foods Improves In-Store Data Infrastructure
The ability for people to be able to buy food and essential supplies, in-store IT and data infrastructure must be kept running. Jeff Miller, Director of IT at Jerry’s Foods, a national chain with fifty grocery, retail, hardware, and liquor stores, knows this reality very well. Miller explains that each Jerry’s Foods franchise includes many […]
The Future of Data Engineering
A Data Engineering Guide reveals that while people often rely on the work of data engineers — depending on Siri for quick solutions or being enchanted by custom recommendations or promos — they often do not realize that these advanced tools can provide accurate results only because of the hard work put in by data […]
Data-Centric Architecture: Find Value with a Data Platform Approach
Applications provide a way to capture raw data in forms and store it in databases, and automated processes make it possible to extract meaning from that data using application programming interfaces (APIs). The current process-centric mindset assumes that the value resides in the automated processing, yet the limitations and costs inherent in its reliance on […]
Graph Databases vs. Key-Value Databases
Graph databases and key-value databases have very different features and are used for accomplishing different tasks. Key-value databases are streamlined and fast, but are limited and not as flexible. Graph databases, on the other hand, are very flexible and great for research, but not terribly fast. Both typically use a non-relational foundation. The two key […]
Scaling the Analytics Team: Developing Key Roles
In an enterprise analytics team, different roles exist to fill different needs, and those needs must be met in order to be successful. Launching an analytics program doesn’t necessarily require a massive influx of personnel before producing usable insights from data, yet it’s important that critical roles are filled, whatever the size of the team. […]
Business Intelligence Meets Metadata Challenges
Many BI managers, CEOs, and CIOs cannot afford to add more staff, so they are seeking technologies that can help their existing teams operate more accurately and efficiently. They “need to change the physics, as we call it. They can’t just add more people to the team,” said Amnon Drori in a recent DATAVERSITY® interview. […]