Natural Language Processing got a boost in utilization and exposure through Tableau’s recent acquisition of ClearGraph in early August. Data Scientist’s are using data visualization for storytelling that can sway the hearts and minds of their company’s decision makers. Now those decision makers can ask the database for the information they want in the same way they would order at a drive-up window, in English.
Natural language processing means we don’t need to learn programming languages to communicate with our computer. We do this already through Microsoft Word spelling and grammar autocorrect, email spam detection, Google’s search engine, Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. ClearGraph brings this capability into the boardroom. “We founded ClearGraph because we saw a need to bridge the gap between humans and computers through natural language, especially when it comes to exploring data,” said Andrew Vigneault, CEO of ClearGraph.
ClearGraph allows non-technical employees to get information from a database. It can facilitate increased customer interaction with data thereby providing more information on their preferences and behavior. It can make customer service more efficient and the mobility is terrific. You can access data from any platform through texting or talking. Tableau has been incredibly popular and powerful for data visualization. Data Scientists use Tableau for all types of charts, line, bar, bubble, pie, to reduce the noise or the overwhelming amount of data availabile and emphasize the most relevant parts. They also use Tableau to make it pretty or appealing to sell their points.
Absorbing ClearGraph’s capabilities into Tableau means the data is more ACCESSIBLE to more people. “Even though Tableau is top in its class for ease of use, it’s about expanding the number of users who can analyze data in the enterprise,” said Tableau’s Chief Product Officer Francois Ajenstat.
What’s next? As predictive capability and accuracy is becoming more common the willingness to share data or allow public access to more data will have the greatest impact on the marketplace.
Interested in a career in Data Science or Analytics? Contact Smith Hanley Associates Executive Recruiter, Nancy Darian at ndarian@smithhanley.com.
