A simple communication framework to begin practising today We all carry around the technology to stay connected 24/7, yet many of us are disengaged and challenged with our lack of communication skills. The Power of Connection provides you with practical, real-world solutions for improving your professional performance, your personal relationships and your outlook — one conversation at a time. Becoming a confident and compelling communicator might be the most important skill for leaders in the modern business landscape, parents in the modern home and individuals who use ‘self-talk' to help shape their world. By adopting the simple strategies revealed in every chapter, you can become an unshakeable success at what you set out to do. This book is designed to help you start communicating better today, so start reading and start practicing with your very next conversation! Understand your communication strengths and weaknesses Become a better listener to build a deeper connection Learn how communication sits at the heart of all relationships Develop the skills to connect, inspire, engage and empower We are surrounded by noise, yet no one is actually saying anything we can connect with — or are we just not listening? Communication is a two-way street, and involves so much more than just speaking. The Power of Connection offers a quick and easy road map for your personal journey of growth and development that will make you a better parent, friend, spouse and employee. It's the right message for this time considering there's never a wrong time to level up your skills and become more effective at work, at home and in life.

Deliver eye-catching Business Intelligence with Microsoft Power BI Desktop. This new edition has been updated to cover all the latest features, including combo charts, Cartesian charts, trend lines, use of gauges, and more. Also covered are Top-N features, the ability to bin data into groupings and chart the groupings, and new techniques for detecting and handling outlier data points. You can take data from virtually any source and use it to produce stunning dashboards and compelling reports that will seize your audience’s attention. Slice and dice the data with remarkable ease and then add metrics and KPIs to project the insights that create your competitive advantage. Make raw data into clear, accurate, and interactive information with Microsoft’s free self-service business intelligence tool. Pro Power BI Desktop shows you how to choose from a wide range of built-in and third-party visualization types so that your message is always enhanced. You’ll be able to deliver those results on the PC, tablets, and smartphones, as well as share results via the cloud. This book helps you save time by preparing the underlying data correctly without needing an IT department to prepare it for you. What You'll Learn Deliver attention-grabbing information, turning data into insight Mash up data from multiple sources into a cleansed and coherent data model Create dashboards that help in monitoring key performance indicators of your business Build interdependent charts, maps, and tables to deliver visually stunning information Share business intelligence in the cloud without involving IT Deliver visually stunning and interactive charts, maps, and tables Find new insights as you chop and tweak your data as never before Adapt delivery to mobile devices such as phones and tablets Who This Book Is For Everyone from CEOs and Business Intelligence developers to power users and IT managers

Business Research Reporting addresses the essential activities of locating, collecting, evaluating, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting business data. It highlights the value of primary and secondary research to making business decisions and solving business problems. It aims to help business managers, MBA candidates, and upper-level college students boost their research skills and report research with confidence. This book discusses primary data collection, sampling concepts, and the use of measurement and scales in preparing instruments. Also, this book explores statistical and non-statistical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data and data interpretation (findings, conclusions, and recommendations). The author shows how to locate, evaluate, and extract secondary data found on the web and in brick-and-mortar libraries, including optimized searching, evaluating, and recording. Plus, the book demonstrates how to avoid copyright infringement and plagiarism, use online citation software, and cite sources when writing and presenting. Two glossaries—one each for primary and secondary research—round out the content. Business Research Reporting can be your go-to guidebook for years to come. Reading through it in a couple of hours, you can pick up ample information to apply instantly. Then keep it handy and refer to it in your ongoing research activities.

This comprehensive guide dives deep into the Power BI platform, teaching you how to create insightful data models, reports, and dashboards that drive business decisions. With hands-on recipes and real-world examples, this book is a practical resource for mastering the full range of Power BI's capabilities. What this Book will help me do Understand and apply data cleansing and transformation using Power BI tools. Create and utilize intuitive data models for business intelligence reporting. Leverage DAX and M languages for advanced data analysis and custom solutions. Build dynamic, user-specific dashboards and visualizations for impactful insights. Integrate Power BI with Microsoft Excel, SQL Server, and cloud services for extended functionality. Author(s) None Powell is an experienced data analyst and Microsoft BI solution architect with extensive expertise in Power BI. He has worked on numerous BI projects, providing practical solutions using Microsoft's data platform technologies. Through detailed, scenario-based writing, he shares his knowledge to help readers excel in their BI endeavors. Who is it for? This book is perfect for business intelligence professionals and analysts seeking to expand their skills in Power BI. Ideal readers may have foundational Power BI knowledge and look to master advanced techniques. If you aim to build impactful BI solutions and are motivated to handle complex data integrations, this book will be instrumental.

Dive into the world of predictive analytics with 'Practical Predictive Analytics.' This comprehensive guide walks you through analyzing current and historical data to predict future outcomes. Using tools like R and Spark, you will master practical skills, solve real-world challenges, and apply predictive analytics across domains like marketing, healthcare, and retail. What this Book will help me do Learn the six steps for successfully implementing predictive analytics projects. Acquire practical skills in data cleaning, input, and model deployment using tools like R and Spark. Understand core predictive analytics algorithms and their applications in various industries. Apply data analytics techniques to solve problems in fields such as healthcare and marketing. Master methods for handling big data analytics using Databricks and Spark for effective prediction. Author(s) The author, None Winters, is an experienced data scientist and technical educator. With extensive background in predictive analytics, Winters specializes in applying statistical methods and techniques to real-world consultation scenarios. Winters brings a practical and accessible approach to this text, ensuring that learners can follow along and apply their newfound expertise effectively. Who is it for? This book is ideal for statisticians and analysts with some programming background in languages like R, who want to master predictive analytics skills. It caters to intermediate learners who aim to enhance their ability to solve complex analytical problems. Whether you're looking to advance your career or improve your proficiency in data science, this book will serve as a valuable resource for learning and growth.

Learn how today’s businesses can transform themselves by leveraging real-time data and advanced machine learning analytics. This book provides prescriptive guidance for architects and developers on the design and development of modern Internet of Things (IoT) and Advanced Analytics solutions. In addition, Business in Real-Time Using Azure IoT and Cortana Intelligence Suite offers patterns and practices for those looking to engage their customers and partners through Software-as-a-Service solutions that work on any device. Whether you're working in Health & Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Retail, Smart Cities and Buildings or Process Control, there exists a common platform from which you can create your targeted vertical solutions. Business in Real-Time Using Azure IoT and Cortana Intelligence Suite uses a reference architecture as a road map. Building on Azure’s PaaS services, you'll see how a solution architecture unfolds that demonstrates a complete end-to-end IoT and Advanced Analytics scenario. What You'll Learn: Automate your software product life cycle using PowerShell, Azure Resource Manager Templates, and Visual Studio Team Services Implement smart devices using Node.JS and C# Use Azure Streaming Analytics to ingest millions of events Provide both "Hot" and "Cold" path outputs for real-time alerts, data transformations, and aggregation analytics Implement batch processing using Azure Data Factory Create a new form of Actionable Intelligence (AI) to drive mission critical business processes Provide rich Data Visualizations across a wide variety of mobile and web devices Who This Book is For: Solution Architects, Software Developers, Data Architects, Data Scientists, and CIO/CTA Technical Leadership Professionals

Renowned DAX experts Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo teach you how to design data models for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. How can you use Excel and Power BI to gain real insights into your information? As you examine your data, how do you write a formula that provides the numbers you need? The answers to both of these questions lie with the data model. This book introduces the basic techniques for shaping data models in Excel and Power BI. It’s meant for readers who are new to data modeling as well as for experienced data modelers looking for tips from the experts. If you want to use Power BI or Excel to analyze data, the many real-world examples in this book will help you look at your reports in a different way—like experienced data modelers do. As you’ll soon see, with the right data model, the correct answer is always a simple one! By reading this book, you will: • Gain an understanding of the basics of data modeling, including tables, relationships, and keys • Familiarize yourself with star schemas, snowflakes, and common modeling techniques • Learn the importance of granularity • Discover how to use multiple fact tables, like sales and purchases, in a complex data model • Manage calendar-related calculations by using date tables • Track historical attributes, like previous addresses of customers or manager assignments • Use snapshots to compute quantity on hand • Work with multiple currencies in the most efficient way • Analyze events that have durations, including overlapping durations • Learn what data model you need to answer your specific business questions About This Book • For Excel and Power BI users who want to exploit the full power of their favorite tools • For BI professionals seeking new ideas for modeling data

Transforming data into revenue generating strategies and actions Organizations are swamped with data—collected from web traffic, point of sale systems, enterprise resource planning systems, and more , but what to do with it? Monetizing your Data provides a framework and path for business managers to convert ever-increasing volumes of data into revenue generating actions through three disciplines: decision architecture, data science, and guided analytics. There are large gaps between understanding a business problem and knowing which data is relevant to the problem and how to leverage that data to drive significant financial performance. Using a proven methodology developed in the field through delivering meaningful solutions to Fortune 500 companies, this book gives you the analytical tools, methods, and techniques to transform data you already have into information into insights that drive winning decisions. Beginning with an explanation of the analytical cycle, this book guides you through the process of developing value generating strategies that can translate into big returns. The companion website, www.monetizingyourdata.com, provides templates, checklists, and examples to help you apply the methodology in your environment, and the expert author team provides authoritative guidance every step of the way. This book shows you how to use your data to: Monetize your data to drive revenue and cut costs Connect your data to decisions that drive action and deliver value Develop analytic tools to guide managers up and down the ladder to better decisions Turning data into action is key; data can be a valuable competitive advantage, but only if you understand how to organize it, structure it, and uncover the actionable information hidden within it through decision architecture and guided analytics. From multinational corporations to single-owner small businesses, companies of every size and structure stand to benefit from these tools, methods, and techniques; Monetizing your Data walks you through the translation and transformation to help you leverage your data into value creating strategies.

Analyze your company's data quickly and easily using Microsoft's latest tools. You will learn to build scalable and robust data models to work from, clean and combine different data sources effectively, and create compelling visualizations and share them with your colleagues. Author Dan Clark takes you through each topic using step-by-step activities and plenty of screen shots to help familiarize you with the tools. This second edition includes new material on advanced uses of Power Query, along with the latest user guidance on the evolving Power BI platform. Beginning Power BI is your hands-on guide to quick, reliable, and valuable data insight. What You'll Learn Simplify data discovery, association, and cleansing Build solid analytical data models Create robust interactive data presentations Combine analytical and geographic data in map-based visualizations Publish and share dashboards and reports Who This Book Is For Business analysts, database administrators, developers, and other professionals looking to better understand and communicate with data

This book shows how to deliver eye-catching Business Intelligence with Microsoft Power BI Desktop. You can now take data from virtually any source and use it to produce stunning dashboards and compelling reports that will seize your audience's attention. Slice and dice the data with remarkable ease then add metrics and KPIs to project the insights that create your competitive advantage. Make raw data into clear, accurate, and interactive information with Microsoft's free self-service business intelligence tool. will help you to push your BI delivery to the next level. You'll learn to create great-looking visualizations and let your audience have fun by interacting with the elegant and visually arresting output that you can now deliver. You can choose from a wide range of built-in and third-party visualization types so that your message is always enhanced. You'll be able to deliver those results on the PC, on tablets, on smartphones, as well as share results via the cloud. Finally, this book helps you save time by preparing the underlying data correctly without needing an IT department to prepare it for you. Power BI Desktop will let your analyses speak for themselves. Pro Power BI Desktop Simple techniques to make data into insight. Polished interactive dashboards to deliver attention-grabbing information. Visually arresting output on multiple devices grab the reader's attention. What You Will Learn Produce designer output to astound your bosses and peers. Share business intelligence in the cloud Deliver visually stunning charts, maps, and tables. Make them interactive too! Find new insights as you chop and tweak your data as never before. Adapt delivery to mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Audience is written for any user who is comfortable in Microsoft Office. Everyone from CEOs and Business Intelligence developers through to power users and IT managers can use this book to outshine the competition by producing 21st Century business intelligence visualizations and reporting on a variety of devices from a variety of data sources. All of this is possible through leveraging your existing skill set with the same, common Microsoft tools you already use in your daily work. Pro Power BI Desktop

The intensified used of data based on analytical models to control digitalized operational business processes in an intelligent way is a game changer that continuously disrupts more and more markets. This book exemplifies this development and shows the latest tools and advances in this field Business Analytics for Managers offers real-world guidance for organizations looking to leverage their data into a competitive advantage. This new second edition covers the advances that have revolutionized the field since the first edition's release; big data and real-time digitalized decision making have become major components of any analytics strategy, and new technologies are allowing businesses to gain even more insight from the ever-increasing influx of data. New terms, theories, and technologies are explained and discussed in terms of practical benefit, and the emphasis on forward thinking over historical data describes how analytics can drive better business planning. Coverage includes data warehousing, big data, social media, security, cloud technologies, and future trends, with expert insight on the practical aspects of the current state of the field. Analytics helps businesses move forward. Extensive use of statistical and quantitative analysis alongside explanatory and predictive modeling facilitates fact-based decision making, and evolving technologies continue to streamline every step of the process. This book provides an essential update, and describes how today's tools make business analytics more valuable than ever. Learn how Hadoop can upgrade your data processing and storage Discover the many uses for social media data in analysis and communication Get up to speed on the latest in cloud technologies, data security, and more Prepare for emerging technologies and the future of business analytics Most businesses are caught in a massive, non-stop stream of data. It can become one of your most valuable assets, or a never-ending flood of missed opportunity. Technology moves fast, and keeping up with the cutting edge is crucial for wringing even more value from your data— Business Analytics for Managers brings you up to date, and shows you what analytics can do for you now.

Resolve data-heavy retail marketing questions through key analytic steps, with expert guidance in a direct and conceptual style.

The Data and Analytics Playbook: Proven Methods for Governed Data and Analytic Quality explores the way in which data continues to dominate budgets, along with the varying efforts made across a variety of business enablement projects, including applications, web and mobile computing, big data analytics, and traditional data integration. The book teaches readers how to use proven methods and accelerators to break through data obstacles to provide faster, higher quality delivery of mission critical programs. Drawing upon years of practical experience, and using numerous examples and an easy to understand playbook, Lowell Fryman, Gregory Lampshire, and Dan Meers discuss a simple, proven approach to the execution of multiple data oriented activities. In addition, they present a clear set of methods to provide reliable governance, controls, risk, and exposure management for enterprise data and the programs that rely upon it. In addition, they discuss a cost-effective approach to providing sustainable governance and quality outcomes that enhance project delivery, while also ensuring ongoing controls. Example activities, templates, outputs, resources, and roles are explored, along with different organizational models in common use today and the ways they can be mapped to leverage playbook data governance throughout the organization. Provides a mature and proven playbook approach (methodology) to enabling data governance that supports agile implementation Features specific examples of current industry challenges in enterprise risk management, including anti-money laundering and fraud prevention Describes business benefit measures and funding approaches using exposure based cost models that augment risk models for cost avoidance analysis and accelerated delivery approaches using data integration sprints for application, integration, and information delivery success

Get started quickly with Microsoft Power BI! Experts Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo will help you bring your data to life, transforming your company’s data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize, allowing you to focus on what matters most to you. Stay in the know, spot trends as they happen, and push your business to new limits. This free ebook introduces Microsoft Power BI basics through a practical, scenario-based guided tour of the tool, showing you how to build analytical solutions using Power BI. Read the ebook to get an overview of Power BI, or dig deeper and follow along on your PC using the book’s examples. Introducing Microsoft Power BI enables you to evaluate when and how to use Power BI. Get inspired to improve business processes in your company by leveraging the available analytical and collaborative features of this environment. Be sure to watch for the publication of Alberto Ferrari and Marco Russo’s upcoming retail book, Analyzing Data with Power BI and Power Pivot for Excel (ISBN 9781509302765). Go to the book’s page at the Microsoft Press Store here for more details: http://aka.ms/analyzingdata/details. Learn more about Power BI at https://powerbi.microsoft.com/. .

With the increasing barrage of big data, it becomes vital for organizations to make sense of this data in a timely and effective way to improve their decision making and competitive advantage. That's where business analytics come into play. This book explores case studies from industry leaders in big data domains such as cybersecurity, marketing, finance, emergency management, healthcare, and transportation. It offers a concise guide for CEOs and senior managers, as well as for business, management, and technology students interested in this emerging field.

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO USING ANALYTICS TO MANAGE RISK AND UNCERTAINTY IN COMPLEX GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS Practical techniques for developing reliable, actionable intelligence–and using it to craft strategy Analytical opportunities to solve key managerial problems in global enterprises Written for working managers: packed with realistic, useful examples This guide helps global managers use modern analytics to gain reliable, actionable, and timely business intelligence–and use it to manage risk, build winning strategies, and solve urgent problems. Dr. Hokey Min offers a practical, easy-to-understand overview of business analytics in a global context, focusing especially on managerial and strategic implications. After demystifying today’s core quantitative tools, he demonstrates them at work in a wide spectrum of global applications. You’ll build models to help segment global markets, forecast demand, assess risk, plan financing, optimize supply chains, and more. Along the way, you’ll find practical guidance for developing analytic thinking, operationalizing Big Data in global environments, and preparing for future analytical innovations. Whether you’re a global executive, strategist, analyst, marketer, supply chain professional, student or researcher, this book will help you drive real value from analytics–in smarter decisions, improved strategy, and better management. In today’s global business environments characterized by growing complexity, volatility, and uncertainty, business analytics has become an indispensable tool for managing these challenges. Specifically, global managers need analytics expertise to solve problems, identify opportunities, shape strategy, mitigate risk, and improve their day-to-day operational efficiency. Now, for the first time, there’s an analytics guide designed specifically for decision-makers in global organizations. Leveraging his experience teaching a number of students and training hundreds of managers and executives, Dr. Hokey Min demystifies the principles and tools of modern business analytics, and demonstrates their real-world use in global business. First, Dr. Min identifies key success factors and mindsets, helping you establish the preconditions for effective analysis. Next, he walks you through the practicalities of collecting, organizing, and analyzing Big Data, and developing models to transform them into actionable insight. Building on these foundations, he illustrates core analytical applications in finance, healthcare, and global supply chains. He concludes by previewing emerging trends in analytics, including the newest tools for automated decision-making. Compare today’s key quantitative tools Stats, data mining, OR, and simulation: how they work, when to use them Get the right data… …and get the data right Predict the future… …and sense its arrival sooner than others can Implement high-value analytics applications… …in finance, supply chains, healthcare, and beyond

Systems Analysis and Synthesis: Bridging Computer Science and Information Technology presents several new graph-theoretical methods that relate system design to core computer science concepts, and enable correct systems to be synthesized from specifications. Based on material refined in the author’s university courses, the book has immediate applicability for working system engineers or recent graduates who understand computer technology, but have the unfamiliar task of applying their knowledge to a real business problem. Starting with a comparison of synthesis and analysis, the book explains the fundamental building blocks of systems-atoms and events-and takes a graph-theoretical approach to database design to encourage a well-designed schema. The author explains how database systems work-useful both when working with a commercial database management system and when hand-crafting data structures-and how events control the way data flows through a system. Later chapters deal with system dynamics and modelling, rule-based systems, user psychology, and project management, to round out readers’ ability to understand and solve business problems. Bridges computer science theory with practical business problems to lead readers from requirements to a working system without error or backtracking Explains use-definition analysis to derive process graphs and avoid large-scale designs that don’t quite work Demonstrates functional dependency graphs to allow databases to be designed without painful iteration Includes chapters on system dynamics and modeling, rule-based systems, user psychology, and project management

Enhancing Enterprise Intelligence: Leveraging ERP, CRM, SCM, PLM, BPM, and BI takes a fresh look at the benefits of enterprise systems (ES), focusing on the fact that ES collectively contribute to enhancing the intelligence quotient of an enterprise. The book provides an overview of the characteristics and essential strengths of various categories of ES, namely, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply-Chain Management (SCM), Product LifeCycle Management (PLM), Business Process Management (BPM), and Business Intelligence (BI).

Key Business Analytics will help managers apply tools to turn data into insights that help them better understand their customers, optimise their internal processes and identify cost savings and growth opportunities.

Capitalise on big data to add value to your small business Written by bestselling author and big data expert Bernard Marr, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you understand what big data actually is—and how you can analyse and use it to improve your business. Free of confusing jargon and complemented with lots of step-by-step guidance and helpful advice, it quickly and painlessly helps you get the most from using big data in a small business. Business data has been around for a long time. Unfortunately, it was trapped away in overcrowded filing cabinets and on archaic floppy disks. Now, thanks to technology and new tools that display complex databases in a much simpler manner, small businesses can benefit from the big data that's been hiding right under their noses. With the help of this friendly guide, you'll discover how to get your hands on big data to develop new offerings, products and services; understand technological change; create an infrastructure; develop strategies; and make smarter business decisions. Shows you how to use big data to make sense of user activity on social networks and customer transactions Demonstrates how to capture, store, search, share, analyse and visualise analytics Helps you turn your data into actionable insights Explains how to use big data to your advantage in order to transform your small business If you're a small business owner or employee, Big Data For Small Business For Dummies helps you harness the hottest commodity on the market today in order to take your company to new heights.

Integrate big data into business to drive competitive advantage and sustainable success Big Data MBA brings insight and expertise to leveraging big data in business so you can harness the power of analytics and gain a true business advantage. Based on a practical framework with supporting methodology and hands-on exercises, this book helps identify where and how big data can help you transform your business. You'll learn how to exploit new sources of customer, product, and operational data, coupled with advanced analytics and data science, to optimize key processes, uncover monetization opportunities, and create new sources of competitive differentiation. The discussion includes guidelines for operationalizing analytics, optimal organizational structure, and using analytic insights throughout your organization's user experience to customers and front-end employees alike. You'll learn to “think like a data scientist” as you build upon the decisions your business is trying to make, the hypotheses you need to test, and the predictions you need to produce. Business stakeholders no longer need to relinquish control of data and analytics to IT. In fact, they must champion the organization's data collection and analysis efforts. This book is a primer on the business approach to analytics, providing the practical understanding you need to convert data into opportunity. Understand where and how to leverage big data Integrate analytics into everyday operations Structure your organization to drive analytic insights Optimize processes, uncover opportunities, and stand out from the rest Help business stakeholders to “think like a data scientist” Understand appropriate business application of different analytic techniques If you want data to transform your business, you need to know how to put it to use. Big Data MBA shows you how to implement big data and analytics to make better decisions.

This book covers the practical aspects of database design, data cleansing, data analysis, and data protection , among others. The focus is on what you really need to know to create the right database for your small business and to leverage it most effectively to spur growth and revenue. Databases for Small Business is a practical handbook for entrepreneurs, managers, staff, and professionals in small organizations who are not IT specialists but who recognize the need to ramp up their small organizations’ use of data and to round out their own business expertise and office skills with basic database proficiency. Anna Manning—a data scientist who has worked on database design and data analysis in a computer science university research lab, her own small business, and a nonprofit—walks you through the progression of steps that will enable you to extract actionable intelligence and maximum value from your business data in terms of marketing, sales, customer relations, decision making, and business strategy. Dr. Manning illustrates the steps in the book with four running case studies of a small online business, an engineering startup, a small legal firm, and a nonprofit organization.

More than ever, data drives decisions in organizations—and we have more data, and more ways to analyze it, than ever. Yet strategic initiatives continue to fail as often as they did when computers ran on punch cards. Economist and research scientist Alec Levenson says we need a new approach. The problem, Levenson says, is that the business people who devise the strategies and the human resources people who get employees to implement them use completely different analytics. Business analytics can determine if operational priorities aren't being achieved but can't explain why. HR analytics reveal potentially helpful policy and process improvements but can't identify which would have the greatest strategic impact. This book shows how to use an integrated approach to bring these two pieces together. Levenson presents a thorough and realistic treatment of the reasons for and challenges of taking an integrated approach. He provides details on the different parts of both enterprise and human capital analytics that have to be conducted for integration to be successful and includes specific questions to ask, along with examples of applying integrated analytics to address particular organizational challenges. Effective analytics is a team sport. Levenson's approach allows you to get the deepest insights by bringing people together from both the business and HR perspectives to assess what's going on and determine the right solution.

In Beginning Big Data with Power BI and Excel 2013, you will learn to solve business problems by tapping the power of Microsoft’s Excel and Power BI to import data from NoSQL and SQL databases and other sources, create relational data models, and analyze business problems through sophisticated dashboards and data-driven maps. While Beginning Big Data with Power BI and Excel 2013 covers prominent tools such as Hadoop and the NoSQL databases, it recognizes that most small and medium-sized businesses don’t have the Big Data processing needs of a Netflix, Target, or Facebook. Instead, it shows how to import data and use the self-service analytics available in Excel with Power BI. As you’ll see through the book’s numerous case examples, these tools—which you already know how to use—can perform many of the same functions as the higher-end Apache tools many people believe are required to carry out in Big Data projects. Through instruction, insight, advice, and case studies, Beginning Big Data with Power BI and Excel 2013 will show you how to: Import and mash up data from web pages, SQL and NoSQL databases, the Azure Marketplace and other sources. Tap into the analytical power of PivotTables and PivotCharts and develop relational data models to track trends and make predictions based on a wide range of data. Understand basic statistics and use Excel with PowerBI to do sophisticated statistical analysis—including identifying trends and correlations. Use SQL within Excel to do sophisticated queries across multiple tables, including NoSQL databases. Create complex formulas to solve real-world business problems using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX).

Compared to the speed and convenience of major web search engines, most business intelligence (BI) products are slow, stiff, and unresponsive. Business leaders today often wait days or weeks to get BI reports on inquiries about customers, products, or markets. But the latest BI products show that a significant change is taking place—a change led by search. This O’Reilly report examines three recent products with intelligent search capabilities: the ThoughtSpot Analytical Search Appliance, Microsoft’s Power BI service, and an offering from Adatao. You’ll learn how these products can provide you with answers and visualizations as quickly as questions come to mind. You’ll investigate: The convergence of BI and search What a search-driven user experience looks like The intelligence required for analytical search Data sources and their associated data modeling requirements Turning on-the-fly calculations into visualizations Applying enterprise scale and security to search