Getting The Most From Big Data: 5 Tips For Choosing Statistical Software

By Gil Allouche, Vice President of Marketing, Qubole

With the democratization of Big Data, powerful data analytics tools such as cloud-based Hadoop are now available to mainstream information workers and developers as well as data scientists and engineers. As a result, both large and small enterprises in a variety of industries have the ability to mine mountains of valuable data for profit and competitive advantage. That being said, the fundamental challenge for all organizations with respect to Big Data lies in choosing the right statistical software to make sense of it all. If you are looking to get the most from Big Data analysis, here are five tips for choosing statistical software:

1. Know your intended users. The first step in choosing the right software is to determine which people in the organization will be using it. Perhaps there are expert statisticians on the ready. Or maybe designated users are on the middle or low end of the analytics learning curve. Once these individuals are identified, the next step will be to determine how extensive their roles as statisticians will be. For some, data analysis may be a full-time job. For others, doing statistics may be just one role out of many that they are currently asked to perform. Having a clear understanding of who software users will be enables you to more accurately choose a statistical software package that suits both the company’s analytics needs and the designated employee’s abilities.

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