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NXT Analytics is a new corporation that aims to challenge the status quo and revolutionize the way you do business.

We challenge how to look at your Data and process information faster, identify trends and tell your real story.

We invite you to share our vision, mission, value and to explore our services, in our quest for excellence.

Blog Post: Data Security Based on Structure

February 2024

In the ever-evolving landscape of data management, security remains a paramount concern for organizations. The way data is stored and classified directly impacts the level of risk an organization faces. Let’s delve deeper into the nuances of data structure and its implications:

1. Structured Data Security: Lower Risk, Higher Predictability:

• Structured data adheres to predefined formats or tables. Its well-defined nature allows for straightforward protection measures.
  
• Examples include spreadsheets, relational databases, and meticulously designed data models.
  
• Security protocols can be tightly integrated, ensuring controlled access and encryption.
  
• Auditing and monitoring are more manageable due to consistent data patterns.
  
• However, structured data may not capture the full richness of real-world scenarios.
  

2. Semi-Structured Data Security: Moderate Risk, Flexibility with Complexity:

• Semi-structured data lies in the middle ground. It lacks the rigid structure of tables but retains some organization.
  
• Common formats include JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), XML (Extensible Markup Language), and NoSQL databases.
  
• While semi-structured data offers flexibility for diverse data types, it presents challenges:
  
• Schema evolution: Changes in data structure over time.
  
• Schema discovery: Identifying the underlying structure.
  
• Security measures must adapt to this dynamic environment.
  
• Organizations must strike a balance between openness and control.
  

3. Unstructured Data Security: Higher Risk, Hidden Complexity:

• Unstructured data defies predefined formats. It encompasses textual content, multimedia files, and raw logs.
  
• Examples range from social media posts and emails to images, videos, and audio recordings.
  
• Challenges:
  
• Lack of schema: No fixed organization.
  
• Contextual richness: Valuable insights hidden within unstructured content.
  
• Security risks:
  
• Unauthorized access: Difficult to enforce access controls.
  
• Data leakage: Sensitive information embedded in unstructured files.
  
• Compliance: Meeting regulatory requirements becomes intricate.
  
• Solutions involve advanced techniques like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning.
  

Conclusion

As organizations navigate the data security landscape, they must tailor their strategies to the specific data structures they handle. A holistic approach combines robust encryption, access controls, and continuous monitoring. Remember, data security isn’t a one-size-fits-all; it’s a dynamic dance between structure, risk, and adaptability.

Blog post: preparing your data for business intelligence

February 2024

At NXT, we recognize the critical role data preparation plays in delivering meaningful reports. Before loading data into our Power BI tools for analysis and visualization, we invest considerable effort in ensuring its quality and organization.

Preparing the Data is a crucial step in ensuring we can deliver meaningful reports that will address the requirements of the organization.

Data Preparation is the process of collecting, organizing, cleansing, structuring, validation and transformation of such data so it can be used for Business Intelligence purposes. Preparing the data that comes from different sources will ensure consistent and reliable results

The Data can be generally classified as structured, semi-structured or unstructured; examples of each we discuss below.

• Structured data is stored in a pre-defined format or table. It's easy to organize, examples can be Spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel, google sheets; Databases and pre-defined data models. This type of data allows for better quantities analysis and straightforward manipulation.
• Unstructured and Semi-structured data include Webpages, social media posts, text in documents, audio, video, images, log files generated by different systems, apps or devices that record activities, events. In general Semi-structed data is not in tables but still has some structured to it such as JSON format while Unstructured Data is not pre-defined and it may be heavy in texts, it can be videos, audio data files with no specific structure.
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From the point of view of data preparation for future Business intelligence use, a more structured Data requires less processing and is easier to transform than Unstructured Data

Data Visualization & your business

5 Best ways Power BI can help your business

Data visualization is an essential tool for businesses as it helps to present data in a meaningful and understandable format.

January 2024

Power BI is a powerful business intelligence tool that can help businesses in many ways. Here are 5 ways it can help a business:

1. Visualize your data with beautiful no-code plots and charts: Power BI’s plotting and charting tools are powerful, easy to use, and require no coding at all. From traditional plots like bar plots and line plots to business-focused charts and gauges, Power BI has it all. By mastering data visualization in Power BI, you’ll be able to create beautiful, customizable charts, that can impact your analysis.

2. Crunch those numbers with DAX: DAX is Power BI’s scripting language and closely resembles Excel formula syntax. It is a simple-yet-powerful way to crunch numbers on your dataset.

3. Manipulate and transform your data: With Power BI’s M language and advanced editor, you’ll create robust data transformations that take your data from raw, to ready for analysis.

4. Tell your data’s story with interactive dashboards: At its heart, Power BI is all about creating interactive dashboards to help you understand your data. You can use Power BI’s interactive dashboards to create compelling visualizations that tell the story of your data.

5. Share your reports with colleagues and the world: Power BI allows you to share your reports with colleagues and the world. This feature is useful for businesses that need to share their data with others.