Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence have become the new buzzwords for businesses that want to maximize their potential and achieve unprecedented efficiencies in comparison to their competitors. The current world situation has given stability and sustainability a new meaning. We have seen businesses succumb to the uncertainty and become irrelevant in the face of pandemics. This crippling uncertainty prompted a new type of compulsive agility, which required businesses to adapt quickly to the new normal. This is where Data & AI come in. Enterprises that were able quickly to gain insights from data became more flexible and adaptive, while delivering exceptional customer experiences. These organizations quickly gained a competitive edge that enabled them to not only sustain but also thrive in spite of global lockdowns.
How Data and AI are changing business in the age of cloud computing
AI and Cloud Computing are both sides of the same coin. Both depend on each other to achieve optimal function. It is the fusion of artificial intelligence capabilities with cloud environments. This makes intuitive and connected experiences possible. This confluence of AI/cloud allows users to perform routine tasks and favorite tasks instantly with virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa.
Artificial intelligence and machine-learning software are so powerful because they can learn patterns and modify behavior based on changes in human interactions and commands. This remarkable characteristic allows them to quickly adapt to market changes and improve performance continuously as more data is available. This is how AI and Cloud are changing business models.
Cloud Computing Lowers the Cost of AI. Businesses are often discouraged from using the power of data or AI because of high implementation costs. These services can be delivered via serverless architecture, making AI more accessible for such businesses.
New Business Streams The AI-first revolution will also open up new business models. These include Vision and Image Recognition and Automation and Conversation Recognition, Decision making and language translation.
Microsoft Azure appears to be leading the Data & AI Services market. It is enabling the convergence of AI & cloud. Microsoft Cognitive Services offers a machine-learning package with 24 APIs. It is extremely user-friendly. These APIs can combine to make a product speak, hear, see, or think, while also providing unique value for customers.
What’s new in Microsoft Azure Data & AI
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform that provides a strong backbone that allows for unlimited scale and performance, which is essential to achieve data and AI.
Advanced analytics
MS Azure Data Analytics is one of the most secure and performant experiences you can have. Azure Synapse Analytics integrates big data analytics, enterprise warehousing, data integration, and more in one experience. This allows data executives to quickly discover insights and increase agility.
Azure Synapse Pathway was created to help customers simplify their migration to Azure Synapse. Users can scan their source systems and convert existing scripts to TQL in just a few mouse clicks. This task used to take weeks, if not months, but it can now be completed in minutes. Azure Synapse Pathway supports business users who are migrating from Snowflake or Teradata, Netezza SQL Server, AWS Redshift and Google BigQuery. This feature will allow them to get up and running faster than ever before.
Efficient data governance
Microsoft has announced Azure Purview, a new unified service for data governance. It was created to allow users to efficiently govern and discover data. Users have used the service to quickly and automatically discover, scan, and classify over 14.5 billion data assets since its December introduction to gain a 360-degree view and classification of their data chunks. This feature allows business users to scan Azure Synapse workspaces using Azure Purview. Customers will be able to more effectively break down operational silos with the ability to search natively within Synapse workspaces using a Purview-driven Search.
This feature also allows users to automatically scan and classify data stored in Amazon AWS S3, on-premises data in SAP ERP, and Oracle DB. This functionality is available in addition to SQL Server and Teradata on premises, Power BI and Azure data services. These data sources have been Azure Purview's data sources since the beginning of Azure Data Services.