Analytics 2013A survey on analytic usage, trends, and future initiatives

March 2013

Research conducted and written by:

Lavastorm Analytics – A global analytics software company that enables a new, agile way to analyze, optimize, and control data and business processes.

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Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary.......................................................................................... 3

II. Methodology....................................................................................................... 4

III. Key Takeaways.................................................................................................... 4

IV. Description of Survey Respondents............................................................ 6

V. Survey Results..................................................................................................... 8

VI. 2013 Predictions................................................................................................. 15

VII. About Lavastorm................................................................................................ 16

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Executive SummaryThe analytics market is thriving and continues to grow at a rapid place. According to Gartner, the analytics and business intelligence market is forecasted to reach over $17 billion by 2016.1 This year-over-year growth will make a huge impact on how organizations conduct their day-to-day business and measure profitability.

From the corner office in a large financial firm to the back office of a communications provider, analytics plays a critical role in any organization’s success. Whether utilizing analytics to understand customer behavior, improve marketing effectiveness, manage risks, and improve overall business processes, more businesses are viewing analytics as mission critical. Analytics sets companies apart from their competition, it’s no longer just a nice to have; it’s a must-have for profitable operations.

More than 600 business analysts, technologists, data analytics professionals, managers and C-level professionals across a broad variety of industries—including finance, telecom, healthcare, education and computer software to name a few— were polled regarding their analytic initiatives and predictions for 2013. This research details the challenges and goals that are facing analytic professionals and how they will be investing in the future.

The top findings were:

•• Approximately 60% of respondents plan to increase their analytic investments this year.

•• The key areas of investment will be:

•• According to the respondents, their three main challenges are:

•– Gleaning insights from data - 25%

•– Getting access to the data – 22%

•– The ability to integrate and manipulate data – 19%

•• The most likely developments to affect the analytic community in 2013 are expected to be:

•– An increased use of unstructured data or new data sources

•– A shortage of analytic professionals

•– The need for analytic tools and training

1 Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide; 2009-2016 update, Gartner, December 10, 2012

People53%

Tools51%

Training43%

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MethodologyIn order to get the most accurate insight into the market, we conducted our research within the active online analytic communities LinkedIn’s Lavastorm Analytics Community Group, Data Science Central and KDNuggets with a global reach of over 75,000 analysts that offer a diverse membership of analytic professionals in varied verticals.

We used an online survey tool to conduct this analytic survey. More than 600 business analysts, technologists, data analytics professionals, managers and C-level professionals were polled across a broad variety of industries—including finance, telecom, healthcare and computer software—regarding their analytic initiatives and predictions for 2013. Every survey participant was encouraged to answer every question.

Key Takeaways:

Approximately 60% of respondents are looking to increase their analytic investment this year.

58%Increasing investment27%

10%5%

Staying the same

Decreasing investment

Not sure

The key areas of investment:

•• People 53%

•• Tools 51%

•• Training 43%

•• Data Sources 30%

•• None 10%

The top areas of analytic investments:

•• Predictive analytics 51%

•• Big data 35%

•• Dashboards 32%

•• Reporting 31%

•• Data exploration and discovery 30%

•• Advanced Visualization tools 28%

The biggest struggle with analytics:

•• Gleaning insights from their data 25%

•• Access to the data 22%

•• Ability to manipulate and integrate their data 19%

•• Resources 15%

•• Requirements gathering 10%

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The survey showed that the analytics industry remains extremely vibrant, with nearly 60% of respondents indicating that their company plans to increase their analytic investments in 2013 across a number of areas and tools. This could show that while people in the survey already use three self-service analytic tools on average, their current toolsets are not meeting the top three challenges of conducting complex analytics: gleaning insights from data, access to data, and the ability to integrate and manipulate data.

The increased investment in 2013 is expected to be used as often for people as it is for tools. However, despite the increased investment, the survey respondents expect a shortage of analytic skills to have an impact on the industry this year. Perhaps this indicates that despite additional investment, analytic professionals expect that the demand for analytics will outpace analytic capacity for the organization.

New data sources, including unstructured data, are expected to have the biggest impact on the analytics community this year. Since Big Data analytics often require organizations to not only process more data, but also to analyze additional data sources, the emphasis on new data sources is probably confirmed by the fact that 35% of respondents will put additional investment toward Big Data analytics this year.

Related to self-service tools, the survey not only showed that Microsoft® Excel® remains the major self-service analytic tool, but that the tool landscape is quite fragmented with more than 25 in use within this community. In fact, 17 of the tools mentioned in the survey were used by fewer than 10% of the respondents. This is likely due to analyst choosing their own tools to suit their needs – a trend which we see continuing as analysts seek solutions for the data integration, manipulation, and analysis challenges they still face.

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568 Survey Responses

Other includes: Auditor, Risk and Consulting.

What department do you reside in?

Description of Survey RespondentsThe following charts depict the background of those professionals who completed the survey by role, department and industry.

How would you classify your role?

577 Survey ResponsesOther includes: Analytics, Human Resources, Audit, Revenue Assurance, Credit, Prof Svcs.

Analysts37%

Data Scientist/ Statistician/Modeler

19%

Technical Lead9%

Reporting/BI7%

Student/Academia/Research

5%

Mgr./Director/C-Level20%

Other3%

Sales4%

Engineering7%

Research18%

Billing1%

Finance8%

IT16%

Marketing16%

Operations11%

Other19%

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Description of Survey Respondents

What is your company’s primary industry?

566 Survey ResponsesOther includes: Pharmaceutical, Consulting and Media

Government 1.4%

Computer Software

11.3%

Analytics12.9%

Data Solutions 5.1% Education9.7%

Finance11.1%

Healthcare8.5%

Manufacturing 4.6%

Retail 3.7%

Insurance 3.9%

Energy 3.4%

Telecom6.7%

Utilities 0.5%

Transportation 0.9%

Other16.3%

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Survey Results

Which of the following functions do you personally perform as a regular part of your job?

Data analysis 81.8%

Research and development 49.1%

Quality control 21.6%

Statistical modeling 54.8%

Import data from a data warehouse(or from IT) 47.0%

Publish or otherwise provide data toother departments 46.0%

Combine data from a warehouse withother data not in the warehouse 41.8%

Filter or drill down into dashboards/interactive reports 41.7%

None 1.3%

Other 7.8%

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Survey Results

What is your biggest challenge in analytics today?

588 Survey Responses

Other includes: Accuracy, Explaining the results, Getting Executive buy-in, Lack of tools, Bridging gap between analytics and the business, Technology that can handle volume of data, Developing and acceptance of analytic-driven culture, Finding the right people that can convert insights into action, People who design the data warehouses/databases not

having a clear understanding of what is needed in the business.

Answer Options Response Percent Response Count

Gleaning insights from the data 24.8% 146

Access to the data 21.9% 129

Manipulating/integrating data 19.4% 114

Resources 15.3% 90

Requirements gathering 10.2% 60

Publishing results 3.7% 22

Other 4.6% 27

answered question 588

skipped question 15

Resources15.3%

Access to the data21.9%

Requirements gathering

10.2%

Manipulating/integrating data

19.4%

Gleaning insights from the data

24.8%

Publishing results3.7%

Other4.6%

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Survey ResultsHow would you describe your company’s investment in analytics?

Answer Options Response Percent Response CountIncreasing investment 58.0% 345

Staying the same 26.7% 159

Decreasing investment 5.2% 31

Not sure 10.1% 60

answered question 588

skipped question 15

Increasing investment

58.0%Staying the same26.7%

Decreasing investment

5.2%

Not sure10.1%

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Survey Results

In which areas will you be investing more resources?

588 Survey Responses

Other includes: Investing in learning existing tools, budget concerns override investment, business development, not in my personal scope.

Answer Options Response Percent Response Count

People 53.4% 314

Tools 51.0% 300

Training 42.9% 252

Data Sources 30.4% 179

None 9.7% 57

Other 1.2% 7

Other (please specify) 8

answered question 588

skipped question 15

51.0%

Tools

53.4%

People

30.4%

Data Sources

42.9%

Training

9.7%

None

1.2%

Other

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Survey ResultsWhat self-service analytic tool are you currently using?

589 Survey Responses

Other includes: Stata, Open Source, Mathmetica, Minitab, Toad, Homegrown, Knime, Datameer, Polyanalyst, Cetas, Teradata, Octave, Socrata, Java, Alteryx.

ExcelR

SASMS Access

SPSSTableau

SqlPython

Business ObjectsStatSoft/STATISTICA

SAPMatlab

QlikViewMicrostrategy

CognosTeradata

LavastormToad

Microsoft BIRapid Miner

TIBCO Spot�reACL

HiveBirt

LogixOther

75.6% 35.3% 34.1% 27.5% 22.8% 17.5% 16.3% 14.6% 11.5% 9.8% 8.5% 7.6% 7.0% 5.3% 4.6% 4.1% 3.4% 3.2% 2.9% 2.7% 2.5% 1.5%1.0% 0.2% 0.2% 15.6%

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Answer Options Response Percent Response Count

Excel 75.6% 445

R 35.3% 208

SAS 34.1% 201

MS Access 27.5% 162

SPSS 22.8% 134

Tableau 17.5% 103

Sql 16.3% 96

Other 15.6% 92

Python 14.6% 86

Business Objects 11.5% 68

StatSoft/STATISTICA 9.8% 58

SAP 8.5% 50

Matlab 7.6% 45

QlikView 7.0% 41

Microstrategy 5.3% 31

Cognos 4.6% 27

Teradata 4.1% 24

Lavastorm 3.4% 20

Toad 3.2% 19

Microsoft BI 2.9% 17

Rapid Miner 2.7% 16

TIBCO Spotfire 2.5% 15

ACL 1.5% 9

Hive 1.0% 6

Birt 0.2% 1

Logix 0.2% 1

Other 15.6% 92

Other (please specify) 117

answered question 589

skipped question 14

Survey ResultsWhat self-service analytic tool are you currently using?

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Survey Results

What area is your company investing in 2013?

591 Survey Responses

Other includes: Machine learning, Mobile analytics, Demand forecasting and revenue optimization, ERP, Streaming data analytics, Speech analytics.

50.8%

34.5%

32.0%

30.8%

29.3%

27.4%

26.7%

24.4%

23.5%

20.8%

16.2%

16.1%

10.0%

7.8%

7.3%

6.1%

6.1%

3.9%

Predictive Analytics

Big Data

Dashboards

Reporting

Data exploration and discovery

Advanced Visualization tools

Performance Analytics

Self-service analytic tools for business users

Web Analytics

Text Analytics

New Databases (including columnar, non-relational)

Process Analytics

None

Location Analytics

Streaming Analytics

OLAP

Search interfaces

Other

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Survey Results

What area is your company investing in 2013?

Answer Options Response Percent Response Count

Predictive Analytics 50.8% 300

Big Data 34.5% 204

Dashboards 32.0% 189

Reporting 30.8% 182

Data exploration and discovery 29.3% 173

Advanced Visualization tools 27.4% 162

Performance Analytics 26.7% 158

Self-service analytic tools for business users 24.4% 144

Web Analytics 23.5% 139

Text Analytics 20.8% 123

New Databases (including columnar, non-relational) 16.2% 96

Process Analytics 16.1% 95

None 10.0% 59

Location Analytics 7.8% 46

Streaming Analytics 7.3% 43

OLAP 6.1% 36

Search interfaces 6.1% 36

Other 3.9% 23

Other (please specify) 23

answered question 591

skipped question 12

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2013 Predictions

588 Survey Responses

Other includes: analytics decentralized, Shake out of Big Data – hype fades, increased outsourcing of analytic professionals by large corporations, drawing analytic professionals from other areas of the organization, skills for analysts becomes company wide.

Answer Options Response Percent Response CountIncrease use of unstructured data or new data sources

26.9% 158

Shortage of analytic professionals 25.2% 148

Need for analytic tools and training 17.7% 104

Shift analytic roles from IT to the business 15.3% 90

Analytics centralized within an organization 13.3% 78

Other 1.7% 10

answered question 588

skipped question 15

13.3% Analytics centralized within an organization

15.3% Shift analytic roles from IT to the business

17.7% Need for analytic tools and training

25.2% Shortage of analytic professionals

26.9% Increase use of unstructured data or new data sources

1.7% Other

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About LavastormLavastorm Analytics is a global analytics software company that enables a new, agile way to analyze, optimize, and control data and business processes. The company’s products provide analysts with programming powers previously limited to IT to rapidly unify disparate data, easily construct complex analytics, and effectively deliver actionable insight and results. Analytics built in Lavastorm can easily be deployed as persistent solutions and applications, providing continuous analytic monitoring across multiple systems and complex, data-intensive processes. Lavastorm’s solutions have identified business improvements worth billions of dollars for some of the largest corporations in the world.

For more information on Lavastorm Analytics or to download a desktop edition of the Lavastorm Analytics Engine, our data analytics software for business analysts, please visit www.lavastorm.com or www.lavastorm.com/resources/software-downloads-trials, respectively.

www.lavastorm.com

© Lavastorm Analytics, 2013. All rights reserved.