Analyzing Unstructured Data & Emerging Technologies

The Hadoop Challenge for Business Intelligence and Analytics Users

Unstructured data received a boost from Big Data technologies such as Hadoop. Finally, organizations had an in-road to an estimated 70 to 80 percent of data that was largely unusable.

But Big Data isn’t the last work when it comes to leveraging unstructured data. A recent Baseline Magazine piece outlines the options for obtaining new business insights by combining structured data with unstructured data.

Blueocean Market Intelligence’s Senior VP of Analytics, Durjoy Patranabish, and Shreya Sharma, analytics consultant, collaborated to write the article. The consultancy focuses on solutions in marketing, life sciences, digital and, of course, Big Data. The resources section of Blueocean’s site is worth exploring in its own right since it includes quite a few papers, studies and webinars.

Patranabish and Sharma list five technology advances that can help you better exploit unstructured data. Most likely, you’ve heard of these technologies, but not as business analytics tools. For instance, you’ve probably heard about artificial intelligence (AI) as used in robotics, but its diagnostic methods can be used to predict business trends and situations. What makes it different from existing predictive analytics is the application of AI algorithm to historical data.

Likewise, you’ve probably heard of machine learning. But did you know that machine learning could be used to process large amounts of customer data from multiple data streams? “For instance, companies are using machine learning to build a single view of customers so they can develop the next best offer or predict churn,” the article notes.

The article goes on to explain how text mining and neuro-linguistic programming, sentiment analysis, and high-performance computing can help you leverage unstructured data. By the way, if you confound sentiment analysis with text-mining, this Knowledge World piece explains how text-mining is more powerful than sentiment analysis.

If you’re interested in learning more about unstructured data analytics, IBM Lead Project Manager John Park will discuss, “Integrating Structure and Analytics with Unstructured Data,” during a free webinar, Tuesday, March 24, at 2 p.m. ET, 11 a.m. PT.

Loraine Lawson is a veteran technology reporter and blogger. She currently writes the Integration blog for IT Business Edge, which covers all aspects of integration technology, including data governance and best practices. She has also covered IT/Business Alignment and IT Security for IT Business Edge. Before becoming a freelance writer, Lawson worked at TechRepublic as a site editor and writer, covering mobile, IT management, IT security and other technology trends. Previously, she was a webmaster at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and a newspaper journalist. Follow Lawson at Google+ and on Twitter.