With Hadoop and NoSQL technologies maturing, massive data storage services like Amazon RedShift appearing, enterprises moving from proof-of-concept to Big Data production implementations and Internet-of-Things (IoT) a growing reality, the focus in the Big Data market is shifting from capturing data to analyzing it.

The old style data analysis, which required programmers to write queries, no longer works for many situations. The ideal situation often is for business end-users to do their own iterative, real-time analysis so they can follow lines of inquiry to business insights. But business people need more than a user-friendly interface. They need to know how best to word their queries, how to properly define the data, how to best visualize the result of the analysis, how to understand it properly, and what to ask next.

In a move toward filling this need, Big Data analysis-as-a-service pioneer GoodData Corp. has announced additions to its product suite to provide that expertise in software. The new release includes enhancements to its Insights Engine and the addition of Analytical Designer and Data Explorer to guide user data discovery. These incorporate Good Data’s institutional experience from more than 50,000 projects to guide users to get more from their data analysis and avoid common mistakes, said GoodData Product Marketing Director Cory Vander Jagt. For example, it might recommend the best visualization for a particular purpose, or a follow-on analysis based on what the user has already done.

Founded in 2007, GoodData has been providing commercial Big Data analysis services since 2009. Today it serves companies of all sizes and many vertical markets including Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC., Nordstrom, Inc., Computer Sciences Corp., Target Corp., Nestlé S.A. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

GoodData is 100% cloud-based, which is where Jagt said Big Data analysis is moving. “If a lot of their data already is in the cloud, people aren’t going to hesitate to do their analysis there,” he said.

Graphic Courtesy GoodData.com