Birst Awarded Two Broad Patents for Smart Data Preparation, Discovery, Visualization

LONDON, July 27, 2017 — Birst, an Infor company and a leader in Cloud Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics for the Enterprise, today announced that it has secured two new patents for technologies that enable the smart preparation, discovery and visualisation of data.

·       “Constructing Reports Using Metric-Attribute Combinations” (U.S. Patent No.:  9,652,516) covers the general process of measuring the relative importance of various attributes on metrics – and automatically generating reports, dashboards and visualisations based on that. 

Birst utilises technology in this patent for its One-Click Smart Visualisation, which leverages machine learning to intelligently discover the most business-critical relationships between hundreds of columns of data. One-Click Smart Visualisation uses smart technologies to select the appropriate visualisations and automatically builds and displays a set of visualisations in dashboards. 

·       “Automatic Data Warehouse Generation Using Automatically Generated Schema” (U.S. Patent No.:  9,483,537) is another broad patent, from which Birst developed its Automated Data Refinement (ADR) capability. 

ADR uses advanced algorithms to take highly disparate data from many different sources and instantly structure it in a simple, clear and consistent set of business metrics and attributes, so any user, regardless of skill set, can perform analytics.

According to the 2017 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms report, “By 2021, the number of users of modern BI and analytics platforms that are differentiated by smart data discovery capabilities will grow at twice the rate of those that are not, and will deliver twice the business value.”

In the report, Gartner notes that, “Smart data discovery leverages machine learning to prepare and cleanse data more intelligently, automatically generate the most important insights, and interpret charts via natural-language generation.” 

To download a copy of the 2017 Gartner Critical Capabilities for BI and Analytics Platforms report, click here.

Brad Peters, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Birst, said Birst’s smart data discovery and visualisation technology “goes beyond finding just a single attribute and its impact on a measure. It intelligently discovers multiple attributes that drive a metric up or down and prioritises them. Further, the technology intelligently chooses the right visualisation to expose, so that a business user can understand it.”

Likewise, Birst’s Smart Data Preparation (known as Connected Data Prep) and Automated Data Refinement technology is unique, Peters said, because “it not only finds relationships between data; it also creates a business layer with which users can interact. When other, competing tools find relationships between data, they create physical, siloed data sets. With Birst, you get a cloud-architected platform that enables multiple users, across the enterprise, to access and work with trusted, virtual data sets.”  

Birst’s Connected Data Prep recently was introduced as a key capability of Birst 6, the newest evolution of the company’s networked business analytics platform, which empowers business users to connect to a new level of trusted insights.

The Birst Connected Data prep experience enables business users to leverage powerful data blending, transformation, and networking capabilities to prepare data for analytics via an intuitive user interface – all without the need for IT intervention. With Birst’s Connected Data Prep capabilities, business users can connect, prepare and relate data entirely on their own and regardless of skill.

Birst Automated Data Refinement (ADR) – a complete Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) capability – automatically merges data from different tables, sources, or structures into a common user-ready data store, optimised for analytic questions. Through ADR, Birst eliminates the need for teams of developers and data specialists to perform the time-intensive and error-prone ETL processes that legacy BI scenarios require.

Birst Free Trial

To experience how easy it is use Birst and to connect to a new level of trusted insights, sign up for a free trial. With the Birst free trial, business users can access data with pre-set, smart analytic connectors, prepare data with instant feedback in a consumer-grade UX, relate data accurately with smart suggestions, visualise analytics, discover new insights and more.  

About Birst, an Infor Company

Birst is an advanced networked business analytics platform. Organisations can achieve a new level of trusted insight and decision making by connecting their data and people via a network of analytics services. Birst scales from individuals to the enterprise in a manner that is smart, connected, and scalable. Learn more at www.birst.com. 

About Infor

Infor builds business software for specific industries in the cloud. With 16,000 employees and more than 90,000 customers in over 170 countries, Infor software is designed for progress. To learn more, please visit www.infor.com.

Source: Birst