Mark Smith's Analyst Perspectives

The need for businesses to process and analyze data has grown in intensity along with the volumes of data they are amassing. Our benchmark research consistently shows that preparing data is the most widespread impediment to analytic and operational efficiency. In our recent research on data and analytics in the cloud, more than half (55%) of organizations said that preparing data for analysis is a major impediment, followed by other preparatory tasks: reviewing data for quality and consistency (48%) and waiting for data and information (28%). Organizations that want to apply analytics to make more effective decisions and take prompt actions need to find ways to shorten the work that comes before it. Conventional analytics and business intelligence tools are not designed for data preparation, but new software tools can enable business users independently or in concert with IT to perform the tasks needed. Datawatch offers one such tool, which I have described as doing advanced information optimization. The company has helped organizations get more out of their information assets for years. One could argue that Datawatch has been doing data preparation longer than anyone else in the market; its Monarch product dates back to the 1990s and specializes in extracting and manipulating data from a range of documents and systems. The latest release, version 13, takes significant steps forward with a new user environment and functionality designed for analysts and users in operational positions who need a more intuitive approach to data preparation. Its drag-and-drop approach helps make data preparation doable for most business users. Datawatch has continued to expand its data access support for various systems including salesforce.com and Hadoop for big data, providing support for both cloud-based and on-premises systems. It has significant support already for the PDF, JSON, and XML standards, as well as text, invoices, documents and log files. It also enables getting data from and putting data back into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Datawatch takes an “inspect and recommend” approach to data preparation, which can be especially useful with unstructured data in documents and files. Monarch can identify the data’s format and structure, present what can be extracted and enable setup of a template to use with similar data. A capability the company calls reliable redaction helps in sharing information; after data is extracted it applies masking for privacy purposes to ensure that no regulations and compliance policies are violated. Monarch also supports dataset preparation with many analytic tools like Tableau in which users struggle to access, blend, enrich and use data. Datawatch also has a visual analytics tool it acquired that complements its data preparation. As organizations examine Datawatch’s tool, they should be aware that it is for more than one-off data preparation, providing a repeatable approach that can save time not only for individuals but for entire teams. Datawatch enables many individuals to share data and collaborate on work. This helps analysts and operations professionals work together, as well as involving IT in complex data-related processes. Datawatch continues to grow its customer base in data preparation. A prominent example is Marbridge Foundation, which we recognized with our 2015 Leadership Award in Information Optimization for its work to make content and data from its systems comply with the Affordable Care Act – a project driven by its CFO. Marbridge took advantage of the flexibility in Datawatch’s software to extract and process data from Adobe Acrobat files in PDF format along with other applications to gain confidence that it is in compliance with this critical legislation. Data preparation provides the most value in lines of business such as finance, human resources, operations, marketing, sales, operations, customer and supply chain. Having a tool for data preparation that connects to business processes can produce significant impacts. Data preparation software serves a growing market of business users who need to handle data but are not adept enough to do it with general analytics and business intelligence tools or to use data integration tools intended for IT professionals. Software providers that still use administrative or other IT-centric interfaces fall short of offering an independent and universal approach to data preparation. In addition to supporting conventional data sources and systems Datawatch handles content and documents to help establish a consistent approach to preparing all data needed in business with one tool. With its heritage in data preparation Datawatch is well positioned to be on the short list of tools that help organizations realize the full value of information assets from inside or outside of the business. We recommend that organizations consider Datawatch and its advances in Monarch 13 for meeting a broader set of data preparation needs. Regards, Mark Smith CEO and Chief Research Officer

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