Gartner said recently that it has identified the top 10 data and analytics (D&A) technology trends for 2020 that can help data and analytics leaders navigate their pandemic responses and prepare for a post-pandemic reset.
“To innovate their way beyond a post-pandemic world, data and analytics leaders require an ever-increasing velocity and scale of analysis in terms of processing and access to succeed in the face of unprecedented market shifts,” said Rita Sallam, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.
Smarter, faster, more responsible AI
By the end of 2024, 75% of organisations will shift from piloting to AI, driving a five-times increase in streaming data and analytics infrastructures, said the research firm.
Within the current pandemic context, AI techniques such as machine learning (ML), optimisation and natural language processing (NLP) provide vital insights and predictions about the spread of the virus and the effectiveness and impact of countermeasures, according to Gartner.
Other smarter AI techniques such as reinforcement learning and distributed learning create more adaptable and flexible systems to handle complex business situations; for example, agent-based systems that model and simulate complex systems, the firm added.
Decline of the dashboard
Dynamic data stories with more automated and consumerised experiences will replace visual, point-and-click authoring and exploration, said Gartner.
As a result, the amount of time users spend using predefined dashboards will decline, the firm added.
The shift to dynamic data stories that leverage for example augmented analytics or NLP, means that the most relevant insights will stream to each user based on their context, role or use, Gartner pointed out.
Decision intelligence
By 2023, more than 33% of large organisations will have analysts practicing decision intelligence, including decision modeling, said Gartner.
Decision intelligence brings together several disciplines, including decision management and decision support while providing a framework to help data and analytics leaders design, model, align, execute, monitor and tune decision models and processes in the context of business outcomes and behaviour, the firm noted.
X analytics
Gartner coined the term “X analytics” to be an umbrella term, where X is the data variable for a range of different structured and unstructured content such as text analytics, video analytics, and audio analytics.
While AI has been critical in combing through thousands of research papers, news sources, social media posts and clinical trials data to help medical and public health experts predict disease spread, capacity-plan, find new treatments and identify vulnerable populations, X analytics combined with AI and other techniques such as graph analytics will play a key role in identifying, predicting and planning for natural disasters and other crises in the future, Gartner predicted.
Augmented data management
Augmented data management uses ML and AI techniques to optimise and improve operations, Garnter noted, adding that it also converts metadata from being used in auditing, lineage and reporting to powering dynamic systems.
Augmented data management products can examine large samples of operational data, including actual queries, performance data and schemas, according to the firm.
Using the existing usage and workload data, an augmented engine can tune operations and optimize configuration, security and performance, Gartner added.
Cloud is a given
By 2022, public cloud services will be essential for 90% of data and analytics innovation, said the research company.
As data and analytics moves to the cloud, data and analytics leaders still struggle to align the right services to the right use cases, which leads to unnecessary increased governance and integration overhead, Gartner pointed out.
The question for data and analytics is moving from how much a given service costs to how it can meet the workload’s performance requirements beyond the list price, Gartner said.
Data and analytics leaders need to prioritise workloads that can exploit cloud capabilities and focus on cost optimisation when moving to cloud, the firm added.
Data and analytics worlds collide
Data and analytics capabilities have traditionally been considered distinct entities and managed accordingly, Gartner observed.
Vendors offering end-to-end workflows enabled by augmented analytics blur the distinction between the two markets, the firm said.
The collision of data and analytics will increase interaction and collaboration between historically separate data and analytics roles, Gartner said, adding that this impacts not only the technologies and capabilities provided, but also the people and processes that support and use them.
The spectrum of roles will extend from traditional data and analytics to information explorer and citizen developer as examples, Gartner predicted.
Data marketplaces and exchanges
By 2022, 35% of large organisations will be either sellers or buyers of data via formal online data marketplaces, up from 25% in 2020, according to the research firm.
Data marketplaces and exchanges provide single platforms to consolidate third-party data offerings and reduce costs for third-party data, the company said.
Blockchain in data and analytics
Blockchain technologies address two challenges in data and analytics, said Gartner.
First, blockchain provides the full lineage of assets and transactions; and second, blockchain provides transparency for complex networks of participants, the firm noted.
Outside of limited bitcoin and smart contract use cases, ledger database management systems (DBMSs) will provide a more attractive option for single-enterprise auditing of data sources, said Gartner, predicting that most permissioned blockchain uses will be replaced by ledger DBMS products by 2021.
Relationships form the foundation of data and analytics value
By 2023, graph technologies will facilitate rapid contextualisation for decision making in 30% of organizations worldwide, Gartner estimated.
Graph analytics is a set of analytic techniques that allows for the exploration of relationships between entities of interest such as organizations, people and transactions, Gartner explained.
It helps data and analytics leaders find unknown relationships in data and review data not easily analysed with traditional analytics, the company noted.
