When it comes to business intelligence, advanced analytics provides companies big and small with the ability to get a more in-depth insight into their data. This can create profitable advantages especially when the big data is mined for information pertaining to customer bases, marketing strategies and other profit-generating information. The potential advanced analytics can offer has resulted in a push for tools that can be used by professionals outside of the IT field, according to O'Reilly Media

"Companies are betting that as business users start interacting with data, they will want to tackle more problems that require advanced analytics," Ben Lorica wrote for O'Reilly. "With business analysts far outnumbering data scientists, it makes sense to offload some problems to non-experts."

Advanced analytics offers major benefits for marketing

When companies employ in-depth analysis into their big data, they are able to extract information that can be used to better target their customer base, which has the potential to drive up profits. Chief Marketer indicates that this approach allows for highly customized marketing strategies, as businesses are better able to assess and target their audiences. According to the source, advanced analytics can help companies gain a better understanding of their marketing strategies, so they are able to tweak operations for a more profitable outcome. Businesses also use the information derived from the analysis to find more in-depth customer insights and create specialized customer profiles.

New processes for analyzing big data

The growing interest in advanced analytics has led to the development of more streamlined software that makes it easier to extract information from large pools of stored data. According to Data Center Knowledge, new technologies are emerging that give businesses the ability to quickly and effectively interpret their information so it can be used to improve companies' strategies and bolster their business models. One of the leading options is in-memory computing, which stores data in easier-to-access memory. Traditionally, big data is stored on a hard disk or in a cloud, but in-memory storage puts the information within reach, allowing for faster business analytics.

Real-time advanced analytics allows businesses to gain valuable insight into their strategies and campaigns. In turn, the data mined from a company's business intelligence may be used to customize or improve a current strategy or cultivate one that will be more effective than past efforts.

IBM has reached an agreement to acquire Cloudant, a Database-as-a-Service company that stores, analyzes and distributes Web and mobile app data.

The move adds a DBaaS offering to IBM’s cloud services portfolio. The announcement did not disclose financial terms, but stated that the deal is expected to be finalized within the next few months, and once closed, Cloudant will join IBM's newly formed Information and Analytics Group.

Cloudant is a JSON cloud-based data service that runs on the open-source Apache CouchDB NoSQL database. Cloudant offers mobile and Web developers an integrated RESTful API to store, access and scale application data in the cloud. The DBaaS stores data as JSON documents, enabling global data distribution, geographic load balancing, and data replication and syncing for mobile apps.