Startups took over the analytics agenda last week with a series of major launches spanning every step of the data processing lifecycle, starting from the initial collection stage. Tamr Inc. emerged at the head of the column after unveiling a free standalone version of its metadata aggregation technology.

The software collects logs from the different systems on an organization’s network through ready-made connectors and assembles that data into a continuously updated catalog of the contents in each that is then synced to a central manifest encompassing the entire environment. The functionality aims to significantly reduce the amount of manual work needed to find and expose information analysis.

But making the data accessible is only the first step toward producing useful insights. There’s a long journey in between that Databricks Inc. hopes to shorten with the new addition to its cloud-based implementation of Apache Spark that debuted on the backdrop of Tamr introducing the new metadata gathering software.

The feature can automatically translate queries written for the visualization component of the service into native code. That allows applications running directly on Spark to take advantage of the functionality without requiring data scientists to re-write everything themselves each time they create a new model or update an existing one.

That can significantly improve productivity and thereby help increase the rate at which improvements are implemented, a major benefit in the fast-changing analytics world. But quickly churning out code and bleeding-edge algorithms is hardly a universal requirement to analyze unstructured information anymore, thanks largely to startups such as Zephyr Health Inc. with its recently launched business intelligence platform.

The software is the latest in a long series of solutions that emerged over recent years to bring analytics within the reach of everyday business users, and, more specifically, healthcare professionals. The startup promises to provide quick access to information on patients and providers, along with the shifting correlations between the two segements, through a straightforward mobile interface.

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