Forecasting is a widely used technique by companies to predict future market trends, consumer demand, sales performance, and many other factors that can impact business operations. The ability to anticipate the evolution of future trends is crucial for businesses aiming to operate efficiently in a competitive market. However, obtaining accurate forecasts requires time, effort, and expertise, especially when dealing with large amounts of data.
Fortunately, today, platforms are available that simplify the introduction and adoption of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence solutions to support business decision-making in less structured environments.
The choice of technology can significantly impact the success and usability of a forecasting project, especially for those without prior experience. In this article, we will explore how the Dataiku platform can help businesses enhance their forecasting process, streamline operations, and improve outcomes.
What is Dataiku?
Positioned as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for two consecutive years, Dataiku is one of the leading data science platforms designed to simplify the use of machine learning within businesses.
- It is a technology-agnostic platform that can integrate with any existing company infrastructure.
- It is a collaborative platform focused on data democratization: it allows both experts and non-experts to collaborate on projects and facilitates data access.
- It is an end-to-end platform covering the entire lifecycle of a data science or forecasting project, from data preparation to results deployment.
- It is scalable and capable of handling large volumes of data.
- It supports connectors for multiple SQL databases (Snowflake, Azure Synapse, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc.), cloud storage (Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, etc.), and NoSQL databases (MongoDB, Cassandra, and Elastic Search).
- It offers a wide range of algorithms and tools for forecasting and machine learning.
- It features a visual and graphical approach, using pipelines and data flows, while also supporting Python, R, and other coding languages.
Since 2021, Blue BI has been a partner of Dataiku, and our team has developed solid expertise in the platform, deepening our skills in advanced analytics.
Forecasting with Dataiku
The forecasting process with Dataiku follows a series of steps, starting from data collection and cleaning of historical series to the validation of the chosen model. Thanks to its intuitive interface and a broad set of tools, Dataiku simplifies many of these steps, allowing data science teams to focus on creating more accurate models.
The forecasting process with Dataiku can be divided into five key phases:
- Data Collection and Cleaning: the first step is identifying the most relevant data sources and preparing them for processing. Dataiku offers advanced data integration tools that allow the merging of heterogeneous data sources.
- Choosing the Forecasting Model: selecting the right forecasting model is critical for achieving accurate predictions. Dataiku provides a wide range of statistical models, such as ARIMA and NPTS, as well as deep learning models like DeepAR and Transformer. It also offers automatic model selection for beginners and custom configurations for advanced users.
- Model Training: once the models and parameters are selected, Dataiku enables users to train them on a dataset.
- Validation: after training, models can be evaluated using key metrics on test data to assess their accuracy and effectiveness.
- Model Deployment: finally, Dataiku allows the forecasting model to be integrated into the company’s production pipeline, making forecasts available to end users. The platform also enables continuous monitoring and updates to maintain high accuracy over time.
Case Study Example
To illustrate forecasting with Dataiku, let’s consider a company that wants to predict its product sales for the next twelve months. The company has collected historical sales data, pricing, promotional campaigns, and other variables that may affect product demand.
Using Dataiku, a data science team can generate sales forecasts and leverage them for budget planning or inventory optimization. By comparing predictions with actual data, the accuracy of the models can be evaluated and further improved if necessary. A well-trained model can even achieve over 95% accuracy.
BBIxForecasting and Dataiku
Dataiku is an ideal solution for companies looking to harness the power of machine learning and forecasting algorithms to make better, data-driven decisions. Combining this platform’s ease of use with the effectiveness of cutting-edge artificial intelligence algorithms is a winning strategy.
BBIxForecasting is Blue BI’s solution for generating reliable forecasts by leveraging Dataiku’s capabilities along with our team’s expertise in statistics and machine learning. Contact us to learn more!
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