When it comes to data science and machine learning platform providers, the market leaders might not be the best fit for your company, according to the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms.
Timothy King explains why data science and ML providers must be carefully assessed according to company needs in this report in Business Solutions Intelligence Review:
The data science market features perhaps the most diverse range of solution providers of any data-centric industry. This is definitely purposeful, as use cases and requirements vary from organization to organization with some needing a more augmented approach via machine learning to build and model. Other providers offer more advanced functionality aimed at expert users. However, Gartner notes that the augmented approach may begin to gain steam there as well so data scientists can more efficiently navigate the model-building process.
In Gartner’s report notes, they highlight that market leaders “may not be the best choice.” We applaud this sentiment, as it means that vendor placement isn’t the most important thing readers should take away. The diversity of solution providers and the capabilities offered make it more important than ever for buyers to consider only the tools and products that best line up with their environments and end-goals. It’s true too that different users (citizen data scientist, line-of-business, corporate teams) are likely to have different needs, and this is a key differentiator for a number of the products covered in the study.
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If one thing speaks to the continued evolution in this space, it’s the change in vendor positioning on the Magic Quadrant. Numerous providers changed columns and the spread of providers covers a large swath of the graphic. After KNIME was downgraded on the vertical axis, RapidMiner has seized the top spot in the middle-left portion of the leaders space. RapidMiner was a top scorer in the researcher’s late-2018 Customer Choice Awards, and it’s always good to see user sentiment match up with Gartner’s analysis.
TIBCO Software is breathing down RapidMiner’s back, with a strong standing just to the top dog’s southwest. TIBCO made notable gains on Gartner’s horizontal ‘completeness of vision’ axis due to a growing and strong product portfolio that houses all of the company’s data and advanced analytic functionality. TIBCO’s data science offering is both comprehensive and easy to use, and features an impressive set of connectors and APIs for machine data capture and model scoring. SAS rounds out the leader column, and though its position was better last year, offers a large presence in the space and an integrated interface that houses its data management capabilities.
Though Alteryx lost its spot in the leaders column, Gartner upgraded the company’s vertical standing for ability to execute. With a focus on making advanced analytics more readily available to citizen data scientists, Alteryx remains a formidable player and one that could return to leader status at a moment’s notice.
