Future-perfect: New and notable in Watson Analytics and Cognos Analytics

You’ve seen the past and the present. Now, I’d like to welcome you to the future by introducing you to the latest Watson Analytics capabilities and the next iteration of Cognos Analytics (available later this year).  Through new partners and continuous development processes, we’re changing how you look at the world, literally and figuratively.

What’s the story, Watson Analytics glory?

I am excited to announce that several new Expert Storybooks for Watson Analytics are available on the Analytics Exchange. Expert Storybooks are guided analytic templates that accelerate your time to achieving business insights. The new storybooks range from use cases such as sales win-loss analysis for SugarCRM users, to sales rep compensation for IBM SPM. Simply bring your own data and get an experts opinion about your business scenario.

Mobilize your Watson Analytics forces

The wait is over: Watson Analytics Mobile for iOS is now available and you can look for it in the Apple App Store. Now you can easily import your data directly from text files or other apps like email clients, Box, Dropbox, and OneDrive and let the app guide you through your exploration, helping you see new opportunities in your data. You can publish your discovery for use in Watson Analytics at your computer when you get back to your office.

The best things comes in analytics packages

You are now able to use Cognos Framework Manager Packages, also known as business layer models, in Watson Analytics! Connect to Cognos Analytics and find the package you are interested in, then select the elements of the package you want to see in Watson Analytics. Now you have what you need to identify key drivers in your data and test hypotheses against governed and managed data for an unbiased view of your business.

Watch this video for more details about all these Watson Analytics capabilities:

Mapping Cognos Analytics

We’ve been very busy making sure that our self-service BI with centralized management and government helps you answer “why” and not just “what.” I’ll begin with the geospatial analytics capabilities delivered by IBM’s RAVE2 visualization engine integrated with the Mapbox cloud platform.  This will be a great addition to all your existing dashboards in Cognos Analytics. And, built into the connection to Mapbox are Pitney Bowes Polygons for added depth to the mapping.

Follow a logical path in Cognos Analytics data or blaze your own

To help you better explore and even drill down to underlying data,  you can now define navigation paths as a part of your data module in both reports and dashboards. These can be logical, such as region to country to city, or they can be defined in any order that makes sense for your business. A simple click is all it takes to move directly down the chain or to view and jump multiple levels.

The wait is finally over

You can now leverage your existing corporately governed framework manager models in the dashboard capability. Packages are now displayed in the metadata pane and can be easily searched. Create dashboards using the same smarts and interactions as modules, uploaded files, and data sets. Then, share a link or get a link to embed your content in another location.

Want a demonstration of all these Cognos Analytics innovations? Watch this video:

How to take advantage of the future

Discover easy analytics by signing up for the Watson Analytics free edition at www.watsonanalytics.com

To know Cognos Analytics is to love it. Sign up for the free trial here.