Originally posted as Advanced Analytics and Your Application on Where Technology Meets Teamwork - Thoughts on TFS, Lean, Agile, Kanban, Scrum and other collaborative technologies and techniques
Developers and business decision makers alike are starting to understand the power of advanced analytics. They know that amazing things can be done with their data but they don’t know how to get started. At Northwest Cadence, we help our clients reach new heights by building intelligence into their applications and processes – and it all starts with data!
We know data and how to make it work for you. Northwest Cadence helps companies embed enterprise level intelligence into applications and processes.
Collect
With Azure Data Lake or Blob storage, all of your data can be captured for analysis for next to nothing. There is no excuse to throw away data anymore. And with tools like Azure Data Lake Analytics, HDInsight (Hadoop in Azure), and SQL Data Warehouse you can scale quickly to reduce processing time while only paying for the compute you need. But that’s only the start. Data comes in many forms.
Stream
For streaming data, Event Hubs are ideal. They can collect millions of asynchronous events per second. Connect that to a Stream Analytics job and you’re set for near real-time SQL-like transforms, machine learning and JavaScript functions, and even live data visualizations. For those with Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Azure’s IoT Hub supports all major protocols, per-device authentication, and bi-directional communication with billions of devices.
Predict
Data collection is all well and good but it’s what you do with your data that counts! Azure Machine Learning Studio transforms your devs into data scientists! Take advantage of machine learning models built and used by Microsoft. By connecting drag-and-drop modules on a canvas you can get deep insights, from recommendation engines to text analytics. While you’re at it, add innovation with Cortana Intelligence Suite. Just imagine what your app could do with real-time facial and emotional recognition paired with Bot Services!
Visualize
Of course, with all this data you need a way to understand it. Static reports are not enough anymore. Serious companies have sophisticated stories to tell with their data. They need to be able to slice and cross-filter reports; they need to see the data as it’s being generated; they need the ability to perform ad-hoc natural language queries; they need to easily share the right reports with the right people. They need Power BI!
Search
Do your customers need to search within your apps? With just a few clicks you can provision an elastic-search based search engine in Azure and start indexing your assets. Azure handles the infrastructure and processing and you can use the REST-based API to provide instant and powerful search capabilities to any app.
Defining Modern Applications
Most likely you’re doing some of this already. Looking forward, how can you embrace modern applications and create your next app to be streamlined, scalable, and smart?
Streamlined
High-performing teams push the boundaries of processes and tools. They’ve already fine-tuned communication and collaboration, built a solid foundation for quality, and removed wasteful delay and rework from the delivery cycle. They know continuous improvement is never finished, so they’re looking around for the next opportunity to make their work even better. Visual Studio Team Services and Azure enable teams to streamline their day-to-day work to empower rapid innovation.
Whether you’re a high-performing company already or you’re trying to become one, the marriage of great people, proven practices, and cutting-edge tools is how you’ll get there.
Scalable
As applications grow, so the demand on infrastructure grows. Azure allows companies to grow rapidly and cost-effectively.
However, beyond production scale there’s the scale of the DevOps pipeline! Visual Studio Team Services and Azure helps teams to scale their processes, practices, and tools to keep pace with modern app development – whether it’s automating testing or provisioning new environments on the fly.
Smart
Imagine you had the power to predict the future or to know what your customers are thinking and feeling. Many large companies already do this – they have Quants and data scientists working around the clock to make forecasts and recommendations. They have the capital and expertise to do things that many smaller companies can’t afford. Until now.
For the first time, anyone can take advantage of the advanced analytics algorithms and tools Microsoft’s data scientists have developed for internal use. See and do more than expected with Azure Cognitive Services, Cortana Intelligence Suite, Azure Machine Learning Studio, and Power BI.
How to Get Started: Modernizing Your Team
This is where the gears start cranking and the rubber hits the road. How do you get your team on board? Where do you get started? What best practices must you not overlook?
Identify, Prioritize, Engage
DevOps and Cloud are not only destinations: they are journeys. The first step in modernizing your team is to identify where your team can improve. Here are some common areas:
Application Monitoring and business telemetry
Work Management and Process Improvement
Development Techniques and Source Control
Architecting for the Cloud
Continuous Integration, Continuous Testing, and Continuous Deployment
Data Analytics
Northwest Cadence helps companies determine what your current state is and what areas can be improved upon to modernize your team – and your applications – to realize the most value.
We take an agile approach, working collaboratively with customers to determine which area will provide the greatest return on investment. That’s where the fun begins! The Northwest Cadence can help in the way that’s best for you. We are delighted to help inspire and architect, collaborate and guide, or step in for end-to-end assistance. Our desire is to be a part of the process that helps companies transform and modernize to reach the trifecta of modern applications: streamlined, scalable, and smart.
Read the comprehensive Modern Applications Guidebook to learn more. Request your .pdf copy of the Guidebook: email clientservices@nwcadence.com.
Northwest Cadence helps companies find an edge, create momentum, and improve processes through business and software modernization to realize extraordinary results. The Microsoft Cloud (Azure), Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS), and the Cortana Intelligence Suite bring extraordinary capabilities to help solve common, persistent pain points in software delivery.
As you read ahead and discover the areas affected by the modern software movement, we hope this Guidebook will spark some recognition — “Hey, we’re not the only ones who struggle with this!” — as well as your imagination — “Just think what we could achieve if we could overcome that!”
Request your Guidebook copy today.
Register for an event near you:
Put Machine Learning to Work in Your Software
Bellevue March 30 | Los Angeles April 25 | Irvine April 26 | Portland April 27 | Denver May 2 | San Diego May 3
Join your peers for an online event:
March 9 | Successful Machine Learning for Dev Teams
April 6 | Machine Learning Models all Devs Should Know
Northwest Cadence can help you implement a modern application life-cycle. Call clientservices@nwcadence.com today to help you get there more easily...