Our Data & Analytics team explores key features, business benefits, industry applications, and technical capabilities of Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite.

Blog one of a series.

With the introduction of parallel processing, MapReduce, and Hadoop, the Big Data Era was born. These technologies represented a leap forward in processing speed that paralleled the energy leap moving from electrical power to nuclear power.

This change opened the door to the accumulation and retention of data in volumes, variety, and velocity – in ways that was previously considered impossible. Today, as businesses and organizations accumulate data at unprecedented rates, the challenge they face is the following: how to realize the value of the data they are accumulating. Tools and platforms that allow you to take full advantage of these massive amounts of data have lagged behind technological advancements made in other areas. That’s caused many to become frustrated with big data – and dismiss a large portion of its promise as “hype.” The reality is that big data can actually live up to the hype, given the proper set of tools, services and platforms. Today, companies like Microsoft are changing the landscape once again.

How Microsoft is Changing How We See Big Data

Enter Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite, a fully managed big data and advanced analytics platform. Cortana Intelligence Suite can propel an organization forward in analytics and machine learning. It also integrates with advanced apps, bots and Internet of Things (IoT).

As a cloud-based platform that runs on Azure, Cortana Intelligence Suite offers organizations a set of services that can be easily combined in a multitude of ways. Think of these services as Lego blocks that can be assembled to create a variety of objects.

These services are grouped into three main categories:

• Data – Allows ingesting of data from multiple disparate data sources, apps, sensors and devices (IoT), and storing of that data in a Data Lake, an SQL Data Warehouse, or a combination of both.
• Intelligence – Allows customers to implement advanced analytics, machine learning, Hadoop processing, or real-time event processing on the data.
• Action – Allows information to be shared with people, apps, or automated systems using Cognitive Services, Bot Framework, and Cortana. Users can also create dashboards and visualizations using Power BI.

Mining Data with Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite

As noted earlier, the challenge with big data has not been in accumulating data, but in how to use the vast amounts of data once accumulated. Although the common term for these large quantities of data are data lakes, they could just as easily be referred to as mountains of data. Much like mining for natural resources, these mountains of data must be mined to find the treasures contained within. To date, mining tools have been less than stellar. Advanced Analytics Platforms like Microsoft Cortana Suite give businesses the tools they need to not only mine the data effectively but integrate the data with downstream applications, apps, bots, and IoT in a cost-effective manner. Individuals in your organization who are responsible for producing reports, making business decisions, or supporting those who have those duties, should be excited about Microsoft Cortana Suite. This platform and suite of services have the potential capability to raise the intelligence level of an entire organization. With Cortana Suite, Microsoft opens the door to embed predictive analytics and intelligence into your applications, while easily managing unlimited data sources that allow you to analyze data for more intelligent decision-making.

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In the next blog, we will explore key differences between Microsoft Cortana and its competitors. Bookmark the series and return next Wednesday for more.