For another year, I had the opportunity to be at Microstrategy World 2014, which was held in Barcelona between July 7 and 10. More than 1,000 attendees gathered at the European edition of the conference. The main issues discussed were the latest trends in Big Data, data analysis, cybersecurity and mobility; it also delved into specific experiences of large companies that are already managing their business intelligence in the cloud.

I found it interesting to see how manufacturers such as Microstrategy, leaders in Analytics technology, continue to innovate in this regard. I refer to cases such as the provision of analytical services (As a Service method) through large cloud providers, the use of high-performance analytical techniques for advanced data analysis for companies like Facebook or eBay, or new customer loyalty strategies based on mobile apps developed by leading companies in the retail sector.

Once again, I am convinced of the importance of identifying a specific business challenge before launching an Analytics or Big Data initiative in organizations. All case studies developed by customers that I was able to analyze at the event followed the below structure:

• Description of an existing business problem  (streamline production, identify patterns of preference and customer demand, detecting fraudulent behavior, and so on)
• Identify methodologies and analysis techniques that need to be implemented (simulation, prediction, real-time analytics, data discovery, and so on)
• Selection of the tool that will support it.

Finally, delving into the more technical aspects, I could see first hand the benefits of the new version of Microstrategy (9.2.4.1) that was presented at the event. Besides providing a licensing model to my simple judgment, it introduces significant improvements in areas such as:

• Display both in the development of traditional dashboards and mobility applications,
• Use of insight and data discovery techniques,
• Integration with open source tools like hadoop that has already become a standard in integrating unstructured information