Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
    big data and remote work
    Data Helps Speech-Language Pathologists Deliver Better Results
    6 Min Read
    data driven insights
    How Data-Driven Insights Are Addressing Gaps in Patient Communication and Equity
    8 Min Read
    pexels pavel danilyuk 8112119
    Data Analytics Is Revolutionizing Medical Credentialing
    8 Min Read
    data and seo
    Maximize SEO Success with Powerful Data Analytics Insights
    8 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Tools and those who enable their misuse
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Tools and those who enable their misuse
Uncategorized

Tools and those who enable their misuse

TedCuzzillo
TedCuzzillo
7 Min Read
SHARE

To get a data architect I know worked up, just ask him about how customers end up buying the wrong tools.

How about sales people who push federation tools on those who actually need data warehouses?

“It all sounds extremely sexy,” says my source, who works for a major business intelligence vendor and whom I can’t identify. “You have a lot of people who exaggerate their ability to combine data to provide business solutions. … They don’t prototype, they don’t profile, they don’t actually think about the problem or do testing or even send some high school data analyst out with Excel to put something together that [the customer] might want. They don’t do that.”

Many sales people tout EII because that’s what they have to sell, he says. “The EII tools give you your data, warts and all,” he says. It’ll work fine as a data warehouse substitute “if the data’s pretty clean to start with, if it has a somewhat similar structure, if you can define the data you need, if the data’s relatively common across all the sources, and if there’s not much duplication.”

More Read

Putting the Social back in Social Networks
3 Ways Big Data Improves Leadership Within Companies
Data integration and keeping the decision in mind
Operationalize Predictive Analytics for Significant Business Impact
IT Is Not Analytics. Here’s Why.

Even if the salesperson has a more appropriate tool than what the customer asks for, the customer may never hear …

To get a data architect I know worked up, just ask him about how customers end up buying the wrong tools.

How about sales people who push federation tools on those who actually need data warehouses?

“It all sounds extremely sexy,” says my source, who works for a major business intelligence vendor and whom I can’t identify. “You have a lot of people who exaggerate their ability to combine data to provide business solutions. … They don’t prototype, they don’t profile, they don’t actually think about the problem or do testing or even send some high school data analyst out with Excel to put something together that [the customer] might want. They don’t do that.”

Many sales people tout EII because that’s what they have to sell, he says. “The EII tools give you your data, warts and all,” he says. It’ll work fine as a data warehouse substitute “if the data’s pretty clean to start with, if it has a somewhat similar structure, if you can define the data you need, if the data’s relatively common across all the sources, and if there’s not much duplication.”

Even if the salesperson has a more appropriate tool than what the customer asks for, the customer may never hear about it. “‘Fine!,’” thinks the salesperson. “‘If you want to buy a hammer, that’s fine. If you want to buy a wrench, that’s fine. It’s not like I care. It’s just sales to me.’”

Just once, says my source, he’d like to hear one of these questions: “How long does it take for a novice to become OK at this task?” Or, “How long would it take for an expert to become proficient at these two things?” Or, “If I have a failure, what is your tool’s usual process for recovery, and what gives your tool more integrity than others?”

Mark Madsen, meanwhile, has been been thinking about similar problems lately but from a different perspective. He’s research director at the Third Nature consultancy and a keynote speaker at this month’s TDWI conference in Las Vegas.

One source of problems he sees is vendor marketing. “It’s all about ‘our tool does this’ or ‘has these features,’” he writes in email. “A lot of people don’t think about them that way. They think about them as ‘what this tool is for.’” People end up using an ETL tool for real-time synchronization, for example, or a federation tool in place of a data warehouse.

Even product documentation can lead users down dark paths. “All those docs that say what the features are help when you know what feature you want,” he writes. “When you’re trying to accomplish a task, you’re thinking in a different way.” A common result: convoluted solutions.

“I once did something in an ETL tool,” he writes, “and the product developer said, ‘That’s not how you do that.’ They had built around an improper conception of how users apply it.”

Design schools tell you that every user has a theory of how anything works, he writes, which determines their approach to it. Wrong theories explain why people push on doors that need to be pulled, for example. He says that this insight has made him change his approach to teaching his courses or showing clients.

“I’ve realized that I need to start with the ‘what this thing is for’ and move into what you do with it, and how it works.”

Mark may go into this more in his keynote at this month’s TDWI World Conference in Las Vegas. His long-running “Clues to the Future of Business Intelligence” has been one of the most interesting talks I’ve seen in any tech industry. I expect “Stop Paving the Cowpath” to be worthwhile.

Mark may go into this more in his keynote at this month’s TDWI World Conference in Las Vegas. His long-running “Clues to the Future of Business Intelligence” — perhaps the “Cats” of tech presentations — has been one of the most interesting I’ve seen in any tech industry. I expect “Stop Paving the Cowpath” to be worthwhile.


Link to original post

TAGGED:data warehousingetl tools
Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

power supplies for ATX for data scientists
Why Data Scientists Should Care About SFX Power Supplies
Big Data Exclusive
AI for website optimization
Free Tools to Test Website Accessibility
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
Generative AI models
Thinking Machines At Work: How Generative AI Models Are Redefining Business Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence Business Intelligence Exclusive Infographic Machine Learning
image fx (2)
Monitoring Data Without Turning into Big Brother
Big Data Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

Reflections on Gate 24

7 Min Read

Highlights from Teradata Partners 2010

5 Min Read

#1: Here’s a thought…

8 Min Read

Just Tell Me What I’m Doing

6 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence
ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?