Scott Davis

New data analysts and teenage love

January 4, 2011

Search all the business literature you can and you’ll never find data analysis compared to romantic love. But, hey, why not? Love’s trajectories might hint at what the business world’s newly enabled generation of data analysts can expect. These data analysts tend to be independent, are often creative and at least partly self-trained. They’re strapped [...]

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Lyzasoft says “power to the people” with free version

May 3, 2010

It was International Workers’ Day on Saturday and the official release day of Lyzasoft’s latest product: its foray into “free.” It’s a good way to say “power to the people.” Some people associate that slogan with protests and even violence. But I think the best paths to power usually involve well-analyzed data, whether in public [...]

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How Lyza stole the show at TDWI Las Vegas

March 11, 2010

Lyzasoft wasn’t among the 38 exhibitors in TDWI’s Las Vegas exhibit hall. Lyzasoft sponsored no part of the lunch, and they hired no stage magician. But their buzz was the loudest I heard over the event’s five days. Others may have heard different buzz because buzz varies. Business intelligence elites gather every year at TDWI’s [...]

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No wizard, just you and the data

November 3, 2009

What’s the hardest part of training a new data analyst? Resetting the trainee’s mindset. “They start out with the idea that there’s a right answer,” says Joe Mako. Joe’s leaving his job — where about one year ago he began analyzing data — to go work for the producer of Lyza. Lyzasoft CEO Scott Davis [...]

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BI’s next round: What’s going to dominate?

October 14, 2009

With all the talk about technology, let’s pause to refresh with three basics — culture, conversation, and collaboration. These basics will take center stage in BI’s future, and they’ll help decide which tools dominate.

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Analyst: creative or canned?

July 31, 2009

I picked up the term “creative analyst” in late June on the phone with Lyzasoft CEO Scott Davis. But what does he mean? He described one analyst he’s known of. This guy arrived at a new job with strong recommendations for his ability to tear apart a dataset. He could slice, dice, build related charts [...]

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