Analytics for the Non-Tech Savvy
August 18, 2017
I regularly encounter people who say they are too dumb to understand technology. When people tell themselves this, they are hindering their learning ability and are unable to adapt to a society that growing more dependent on mobile devices, the Internet, and instantaneous information. This is especially harmful for business entrepreneurs. The Next Web explains, “How Business Intelligence Can Help Non-Techies Use Data Analytics.”
The article starts with the statement that business intelligence is changing in a manner equivalent to how Windows 95 made computers more accessible to ordinary people. The technology gatekeeper is being removed. Proprietary software and licenses are expensive, but cloud computing and other endeavors are driving the costs down.
Voice interaction is another way BI is coming to the masses:
Semantic intelligence-powered voice recognition is simply the next logical step in how we interact with technology. Already, interfaces like Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are letting us query and interact with vast amounts of information simply by talking. Although these consumer-level tools aren’t designed for BI, there are plenty of new voice interfaces on the way that are radically simplifying how we query, analyze, process, and understand complex data.
One important component here is the idea of the “chatbot,” a software agent that acts as an automated guide and interface between your voice and your data. Chatbots are being engineered to help users identify data and guide them into getting the analysis and insight they need.
I see this as the smart people are making their technology available to the rest of us and it could augment or even improve businesses. We are on the threshold of this technology becoming commonplace, but does it have practicality attached to it? Many products and services are common place, but it they only have flashing lights and whistles what good are they?
Whitney Grace, August 18, 2017
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