The DataLens festival was dedicated to the best practices of data visualization and analysis with the use of this tool. The participants were mainly data analysts and managers.
Darya, congratulations on your victory! How did the idea to take part in the festival come about?
Thanks a lot! I have been working in the field of Business Intelligence (BI) for 9 years. I always try to keep abreast of the latest developments in the BI world, to learn about new products and updates of the old ones, and just to take inspiration from other people’s work, I subscribe to various useful sources where I read information related to data visualization. Actually, in one of these sources, I read that the DataLens Festival is planned to start in December, and immediately registered for it. I am always open to new things and any such activity is a challenge for me, an opportunity to level up.
Did you go to the festival with the idea of just getting the experience of participating or winning?
The dashboard contest hasn’t been announced in advance. So, I learned about this contest among the participants only in the first week of the festival. However, when I heard the task, I realized that I would definitely cope with it, and set myself the goal to get to the final. In total, more than 2,500 participants were registered, so I prepared for serious competition.
With what experience did you go to this competition?
I have already worked with several BI platforms (IBM Cognos 8/10, IBM Cognos 11 Analytics, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI) on commercial projects, but DataLens was new to me.
I came across articles regarding the development of this BI tool and even tried to work with it a bit to better understand what this tool looks like and what advantages it has compared to other BI platforms. In the festival, I wanted to deepen my knowledge, listen to experts and see case studies of clients who have already switched to DataLens and successfully implemented it in their companies.
Tell us about the stages that you had to go through during the festival.
This two-week online festival was aimed to talk about the best practices of data visualization and analysis using DataLens. During the festival, experts helped us to understand the nuances of working with this tool.
The first week was devoted to the process of creating a dashboard (mainly for data analysts and developers). We analyzed the main concepts of the tool and compared it with other data BI solutions. Then we received a competitive task (creation of a dashboard) and had 10 days to complete it. The second week was devoted to the creation of analytical systems based on DataLens and other Cloud tools (mainly for architects and managers).
What popular BI tools did you use?
All two weeks of the festival, we talked only about DataLens and some other Cloud services. In general, the goal of this festival was to draw more attention to this tool, to interest analysts and tell them how to move to DataLens without much difficulty. There were many examples and analysis of customer cases, which should have made the transition to this BI solution even more interesting.
What do you think about other experts’ works presented at the competition? Was it easy to win?
I didn’t see the works of all participants, because only the contest organizers had access to them. The day before the results of the competition were summed up, we were sent a list of the Top 10 best works according to experts (including my dashboard), from which the Top 5 winners were to be selected and awarded. Among these 10 works there were several rather strong and interesting dashboards. Each one managed to find their own unique feature, which the rest of the participants didn’t have.
Before the final results came out, I dropped links to all 10 dashboards to a few of my colleagues and asked them to identify the best works in their opinion (without telling them which one is mine). To my surprise, everybody put my dashboard in the first place. After that, I no longer doubted my victory, and this gave me a boost. I immediately bought tickets and after 9 hours I was already on the road to the closing ceremony of the festival. I was going to return home only with a victory and well-deserved prizes.
Why should specialists take part in such competitions?
There are a huge variety of different popular BI tools on the market at the moment, and I couldn’t leave unnoticed the fact of the appearance of a new free DataLens tool.
First of all I was attracted by the opportunity to gain new knowledge and interact with experts, question them. The dashboard contest is just a nice bonus. Plus, this is an additional practice. One can learn a lot about the product and get inspired by looking at the work of professionals in their field. It’s a great motivation.
Will you use the experience gained on future client projects? How useful is this experience for our clients?
Of course, I will test the knowledge gained during the festival in practice. Now, knowing about the benefits of this product, I can offer it to a certain category of clients. In general, a good BI developer should have an understanding of competitive BI tools and be completely sure which one to offer. With the necessary knowledge about DataLens under my belt, I have one more option in the BI platforms list for potential clients. By the way, I have already held a meetup on this topic.
How else do you develop yourself professionally?
I consider myself an eternal student. After graduating from the university, I never stop in my professional development and constantly learn something new. Of course, in the field of Data and Business Intelligence. To consolidate my level of proficiency in certain BI tools, I got certified and successfully passed exams. Now I can proudly say that I am a certified BI developer (IBM Cognos 10, IBM Cognos 11 Analytics, Tableau). There are also plans to get a certificate in Power BI.
Additionally, I teach future professionals how to work with those BI platforms which I am experienced in. Also, for my development as an expert, I monitor various resources about data visualization, read articles, study on online educational platforms, or just watch useful lectures on YouTube. In our profession, you need to be on the hi alert, because you never know what request the client will come with. And knowledge of several BI platforms, including not the most popular ones, can greatly help to get to a new interesting project at the right time.
What business intelligence tools and technologies are your favorite and why? Among all the BI tools I have worked with, the first one to mention is Microsoft Power BI. It is a very powerful and flexible data visualization tool. Using this tool, it is possible to not only build an interactive report or dashboard for analysts and managers but also prepare data (e.g. an internal ETL) in it, which really helps the developer to prepare data in a high-quality manner. Another favorite BI tool for me is Tableau. It is also attractive with its flexibility and data visualization capabilities. The Tableau developers community has thousands of ambitious and passionate people. The community arranges various challenges with complex non-standard tasks, where any expert can participate. I also take part in such events whenever it is possible.
What top trends in data and analytics for 2023 can you highlight? How will technology evolve?
The volume of data is growing rapidly and it is crucial to get insight into the business as quickly as possible. And if a company wants to be an active player in the business world, it is crucial to implement BI and be aware of other data-related trends. Therefore, Business intelligence will be actively developed.
Speaking about BI trends, I always refer to Gartner and its Quadrant as one of the most demanded BI tools in the market. As you can see, the top 3 just include those two main tools that I work with: Tableau and Microsoft Power BI. Over the past few years, the trend has continued, since these tools are the best in their segment and don’t have serious competitors. There are still some BI platforms that actively position themselves as excellent tools for analytics and data visualization, but poor technical support and bugs inside the product leave no sense to spend time and money on them and take such risks.
Returning to DataLens, I just foresee a serious increase in interest in this product. DataLens is absolutely free, and therefore very attractive. There is also a low entry threshold, no need to write complex SQL queries, and all the work is done through a convenient drag-and-drop interface. Also, the functionality that DataLens offers is able to cope with 80% of the tasks that most clients set.
Organizations are always striving to improve processes, and the surest way to achieve this is to make data-driven decisions. The business intelligence tool is no longer an optional asset, it has become a must-have, regardless of the size or type of business. Advanced frameworks for data analysis are pushing BI tool developers to improve their products using modern technologies. BI systems in 2023 will increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to provide accuracy, and this will help enterprises build smarter and more reliable systems.
Also, as the amount of data is constantly growing, cloud solutions will also be in high demand. Cloud services have a number of advantages, as they are usually offered as flexible subscriptions and are therefore easily scalable. I also think that businesses will increasingly choose Mobile BI, as it simplifies the control over the work of the company, when all the KPIs and useful diagrams are always at hand.
The introduction of BI and related technologies not only helps to make informed business decisions but also helps in several forecasting methods. Companies should conduct in-depth research and find the right technical partner to be more productive and, as a result, shorten decision-making cycles and increase their revenues.
