For any business, the effective collection and analysis of data is critical to success. The use of analytics tools has been increasing rapidly in recent years, and will likely continue to do so. However, the future of these tools is still not entirely clear. With results shifting in how people are using them, it will be interesting to see what advancements are made in the coming decades. There may also come a point when a business analyst salary also increases to a fortune.
In this blog post, I am going to go over a few different things you can expect from data analysis tools as they enter into their third major phase since 2009’s first phase: Web 2.0 era. Phase one was the desktop period, phase two was the Cloud period and now in phase three (3.0) we are entering into a mobile era where wearables are more prevalent. I will explain how the use of these data analysis tools is changing as devices and consumers evolve.
1. The Impact of Wearables Among Consumers
There has been a huge increase in wearable technology gadgets over recent years, yet for some reason there is not a shift in analytics tool usage. This influx of wearables is a great opportunity for most businesses, but at the same time an enormous threat to more traditional data analysis tools. For example, in the past people have relied on using the web and desktop PCs to collect and analyze their data, but now they can do that from both phones or tablets and wearable computers. This reduces the amount of time needed to collect information from all over the world. It may be that soon wearable computerization technologies like Google Glass will also replace PCs entirely, leading to a complete shift in how data is collected, analyzed, and stored as well.
2. The Increase/Decrease in Businesses Using Data Analysis Tools
As people have become aware of data analysis tools that let them keep track of the numbers and figures from their activities, they have also become aware of the importance of this data. It seems that as time has gone on, businesses are using these tools more often now than they ever were before. Because the amount of numbers and analysis that is used by businesses has expanded so much, it seems likely that it will continue to grow in the future. Since more people are using these tools today than in years past, it is very possible that eventually every business will be using them to some degree or another.
3. The Continued Use of Spreadsheets and Other Traditional Data Analysis Tools
Although data analysis tools are more prevalent than ever, it is not like they have completely replaced traditional methods. Since business and social networks have become so large and fast moving, spreadsheets still have their uses. Many companies still keep data about their customers on spreadsheets for internal analysis. Some businesses still use reports written in Excel to send out on a regular basis just to keep track of everything going on in the business. Despite this, it is evident that these tools will be used less often as time goes on, but they will not completely disappear anytime soon.
4. The Importance of Ease of Use
When it comes to data analysis tools, there is one thing that is more important than anything else: ease of use. When it is easier to collect and control data, people are more likely to do it. To a certain extent this will always be the case, and as people become more familiar with the way they work they may become less intimidated by them. However, ease of use will always be important unless new kinds of analytical tools are introduced. Although these tools have become easier to operate with each passing phase, there are still many functions that users do not understand and so therefore do not use.
5. The Growing Number of Data Analysis Tools
As data analysis tools have become more widespread, a lot more people are using them. This means that there are now substantially more options for those who want to use these tools than there were before. There used to be a few major data analysis tools, but now there are many more from which to choose from. As time goes on, this trend will likely continue as even more of these types of programs are introduced. It is great that so many people have access to these tools and can use them to track their business and social data, but it is still difficult for most people to choose the right one for them.
Conclusion
These are just some of the ways in which data analysis tools will be changing and evolving over the next few years. As new devices continue to be introduced and more information becomes available, it will become even easier for people to collect that data and analyze it as they see fit. I do not know exactly what the future of these tools will be, but I am excited to find out. The amount of data we have now is astonishing, and it is only going to continue growing in size. Eventually we may even have more data than we can handle!
