Oracle data analytics tools target a spectrum of user needs

In a session on Oracle data analytics tools, Kelli Pircio emphasized the importance of being able to provide different user experiences in consuming data.

Pircio, senior director at Performance Architects, a business intelligence consultancy in Boston, said the spectrum of users, from executives to data scientists, requires different types of data analytics tools to meet different needs.

Oracle has set up a method to manage the madness for users, Pircio said. "You've got users that are uncomfortable with anything that's not guided to them. They want to see results in a visual way -- in a pie chart or on a map." So, for executives, who want to see data in a visual way, "[there] is the OBIEE [Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition] tool. Then you have folks who are analysts who are comfortable with the information and like OBIEE, but they may want to look at things through an Excel front end; they [can use] Essbase and Smart View. And then you go into the data scientists who are going to look for correlations, causations and understand what is out there in unstructured data. And those folks can use a product called Endeca."

Pircio also outlined how these tools can work for different kinds of problems and different kinds of data. Ultimately, she said, using these tools effectively has to be the currency of doing business today.

"Things are changing so rapidly. There is more information coming out through social media and website activity. Being able to understand and analyze that information is really important. Understanding what is happening in your company and being able to predict what's going to happen next and make decisions around that is so critical. Companies have to be so responsive today."

For more on the Oracle Collaborate 2014 conference, check out our conference coverage.