Everyone knows that data is important. Modern enterprises compete with data and win with the agility and insight it provides.

Thus the "Big Data Era" as metaphorically captured by terms such at Data Lakes, Data Reservoirs, Data Swamps, Data Streams and myriad others that attempt to describe the pools of liquid gold that this valuable data represents.

It seems everyone today is swimming in data. With many figuratively drowning in it.

The Rise of Data Swim Teams

With so much data and so much opportunity, big data has become a team sport at most large organizations today. This makes sense. There simply aren't enough data scientists to carry the entire load. And while IT has skills and is ready to help, they already have a huge backlog. So business leaders are redirecting their resources to "jump in" with both feet.

The first strokes the business analysts learn are typically the self-service visualization and analysis tools like Tableau, Qlik and Spotfire. Over time these analysts swim their way toward the deep end of the data lake where the data preparation challenges are more difficult.

Self-service data preparation tools, including Cisco Data Preparation, help these analysts successfully navigate these deeper waters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfOCyaWbpmw

Data Preparation to the Rescue

Cisco Data Preparation provides helps business analysts "swimmers" glide across big data waters. It is:

• Comprehensive -Integrating hundreds of data types, including end-user data files, big data/ Hadoop, traditional enterprise data sources and cloud/web service sources.
• Agile -Providing all essential data preparation functions without requiring custom coding or scripting, and uses machine learning to automate time-consuming tasks.
• Easy to Use-Using an intuitive, exploration-style data preparation approach that requires minimal training and accelerates user understanding.
• Scalable-Running reliably at multi-terabyte scale using Cisco's UCS big data infrastructure, and offering closed-loop integration with Cisco Data Virtualization.
• Governed-Taking advantage of an on-premises deployment model that is provisioned and managed by IT, with all steps tracked and all data stored in a centrally administered Hadoop database.

Dive Into Cisco Data Preparation

For a quick introduction to features and benefits, check out the Cisco Data Preparation Data Sheet.

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Learn More from My Colleagues

Check out the blogs of Mala Anand, Mike Flannagan and Kevin Ott to learn more.