Effective decision-making depends on timely access to information. This information may be hidden within vast data files, scattered across multiple databases or stored in a variety of data types on different platforms. Decision makers and data analysts need tools that can help them access various data types, process large files, and ask intelligent questions about the data.
Data analysis has long depended on statistical methods. While statistics allow us to make useful generalizations about data, they rely on sampling and analyze only a small percentage of the total records. Conventional software, such as a spreadsheet application, analyzes only a limited number of records that have been converted to a form the application can recognize. Most of the data remains unread.
You need more than a spreadsheet program to analyze data effectively. You need a tool that can read and analyze data in any form, and from any environment. You also need to be able to access data from multiple sources at the same time, and to be free of file size limitations.