Angoss Predictive Analytics Software Suite Angoss Reference Code: IT014 002680 Publication Date: 11 Jan 2013 Author: Surya Mukherjee SUMMARY Catalyst Over the last three years, predictive analytics has been witnessing an upward trend in interest and adoption. Demand is driven by an increasingly volatile business environment where knowing and anticipating business opportunities and threats is the key to growth. Given the current business environment, predictive analysis is becoming a necessary discipline to help enterprises make better decisions, both in strategic processes and in operational/tactical processes. The growth in this space has also been fueled by two external factors: the explosion in the availability of data and the recent advancements in analytics infrastructure. The market presents an opportunity for vendors such as Angoss to expand their market share. Angoss, with its predictive analytics suite of products and solutions (KnowledgeStudio, KnowledgeSeeker, KnowledgeExcelerator, KnowledgeCloud, and KnowledgeScore), provides a range of capabilities to create, modify, and manage predictive models. The products and solutions are widely used in the financial services, insurance, telecoms, high technology and retail industries. A variety of deployment models are available. Key findings The vendor had a busy 2012 with major releases for several products in its software suite. The spate of releases builds on its increasing investment in R&D. Angoss is betting big on cloud deployments, more so than other predictive vendors at this point. Ovum finds the KnowledgeHub platform and the KnowledgeCloud solutions well suited to enterprise clients. Similarly, on demand cloud deployment is well suited to medium sized enterprises or for use in fixed term, project based initiatives. In the latest version of KnowledgeSeeker/Studio (v8.5), you can import R datasets directly. Ovum believes this will further broaden the appeal of the solution for data scientists. This is in Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 1
addition to being able to import datasets from other statistical packages such as SAS and SPSS, as well as other standard formats such as Excel and text files. Angoss specializes in applying statistical decision trees to enterprise data and has found practical applications for monitoring and predicting outcomes from strategies, campaigns, and decisions. Angoss has a broad installed base in financial services, insurance and telecoms, and is trying to grow adoption in other sectors. It offers 64 bit addressing and uses the MPP capabilities of some prominent enterprise databases; the solution supports realtime scoring but does not offer realtime monitoring. It can use Hadoop as a data source and as a deployment platform for models created in KnowledgeStudio. It embeds text analytics engine from Lexalytics for natural language processing and text analysis. Ovum recommends Angoss is best suited to large organizations that need to run predictive analytics on internal and external data but cannot wait for lengthy deployment cycles. Arguably even SMEs would benefit from smaller deployment cycles, but the vendor s experience is that the vast majority of its customers are large enterprises. One of the differentiating factors of Angoss solution is its strong focus on the cloud, which is beneficial to organizations starting from scratch or for departments that want to steer clear of IT approvals. Possessing a robust cloud deployment environment helps the vendor provide proof of concepts (PoCs) and actual implementations faster than on premise only vendors. The vendor s focus on non programmatic approaches to predictive analysis is also an important aspect to consider. While visual analytics is a hot area, with almost every vendor releasing their own versions, the Angoss solution is focused on allowing users to visually design many predictive jobs that would traditionally require manual coding. This has appeal for business users who would like to analyze data without learning the intricacies of coding. One of the key benefits of the solution is its interoperability and modularity. Angoss ensures that all models and trees generated natively are automatically translated to SAS, SPSS, SQL, and PPML formats (and Java, XML, etc. for decision tree models). This makes the solution easily interoperable with other BI/predictive solutions. The solution also allows users to choose specific functionality from Angoss while working with SAS/SPSS for other parts of the stack. Hence, those enterprises that are unhappy with parts of the current predictive solution they own, or find it too expensive to upgrade to a single suite of products from one vendor, can simply factor Angoss into their predictive analytics strategy. Lastly, purely on a list price basis, Angoss appears to be less expensive than larger vendors on average. Angoss prices sit between open source R and proprietary tools such as SAS and SPSS. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 2
Value proposition Angoss s capabilities in statistical decision trees are noteworthy, and this is a statistical method that is frequently used in investment banks and hedge funds. Ovum believes that organizations which use probability driven decisioning methods for next best actions will find great value in the offering. The solution provides flexibility to modify decision trees at group and individual node levels, which allows users to test a wide variety of scenarios. Trees can be converted to predictive rules that can be deployed in other analytical environments, which is another benefit of the solution. SOLUTION ANALYSIS Functionality Angoss offers a suite of integrated products for modeling, decision trees, strategy design, and automatic code generation. These products and solutions may be purchased as a complete suite deployed either on the desktop or as client server deployments with optional Big Data and text analytics capabilities. Figure 1 shows the architecture of the Angoss solution. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 3
Figure 1: Angoss Product Suite architecture Source: Angoss Core products KnowledgeExcelerator a visual data discovery and prediction tool aimed at business analysts and knowledge workers. The solution is intuitive and non programmatic in nature. KnowledgeSeeker a data mining and predictive analysis workbench tool that helps users prepare and profile data, make decision trees, and execute statistical models. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 4
KnowledgeStudio adds advanced modeling and predictive analytics features for more complex and high end analyses. Key functionality/modules available inside Studio/Seeker: StrategyBuilder a standard module available in both KnowledgeSeeker and KnowledgeStudio that allows organizations to design and deploy predictive strategies using strategy trees. Predictive models can be integrated with the business rules that govern marketing, sales or risk business processes, with an aim to optimize decisioning. Big Data analytics drivers/connectors optional In database analytics drivers that allow users to perform data mining and predictive analytics directly on data stored in an enterprise data warehouse. It supports Teradata, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and Netezza databases. The solution can also import data from Hadoop. Text analytics Angoss OEMs its text analytics engine from Lexalytics and adds functionality to manage and visualize text analysis and sentiment data. The solution can be used to mine and analyze unstructured, text based data, and merge the output of text analytics with structured, proprietary data to perform data mining and predictive analytics with additional predictive variables for improved accuracy. Cloud deployment Along with on premise software deployment, Angoss provides an on demand cloud hosted offering and fully managed analytical services hosted on its KnowledgeHub platform. KnowledgeHub provides elastic scale and flexible and rapid deployment options for running Angoss fully managed and hosted analytical solutions. The vendor provides rapid deployment processes and professional services with cloud deployments to help with transition. KnowledgeHub technology components include: ETL processes integrate data from multiple source systems into a secure client specific analytical data mart automated workflows for data jobs can be created in KnowledgeHub dedicated portal a customized web portal for detailed management reporting and access to support resources. Solutions delivered through KnowledgeHub include: KnowledgeCloud predictive analytics industry solutions in the areas of sales, marketing and risk management. KnowledgeCloud solutions serve clients in the asset management, insurance, banking, high tech, and retail industries. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 5
KnowledgeScore a cloud based predictive sales analytics solution for CRM that uses predictive analytics to score prospects and opportunities, and recommend next best actions, for improved sales productivity and revenue growth. Go to market strategy Angoss's primary target market is large organizations with more than 5,000 employees. Angoss counts about 270 customers. Key verticals include the financial sector (banking, wealth management, insurance), communications sector (media & entertainment, telecommunications, information/tech), and distribution sector (retail, consumer packaged goods). Angoss has reseller partner relationships in Asia Pacific and intends to grow its existing network of partnerships in North America and EMEA. These partners also assist with implementation services. Key technology partners include software vendors Lexalytics (OEM), Teradata, Microsoft (SQL), IBM (Netezza), and Dundas Data Visualization. SaaS partners include Salesforce.com, Meridian IQ, and Broadridge Financial Solutions (Access Data). Lexalytics provides the text mining and sentiment analysis capabilities embedded in Angoss. Database vendors support Angoss s R&D efforts for indatabase analytics; Dundas supports visualization, while Meridian and Broadridge support Angoss s asset management solution as data sources. Angoss typically rolls out one major and one minor product release each year. The company s near term product roadmap plans include two releases: a minor release in Spring 2013 and a major release in Fall 2013. The focus of both will be on extending and enhancing the core functionality of the workbench. Angoss will also revamp the user interface capabilities to make predictive analytics and data mining more intuitive for non technical business users. Further enhancements within both releases will be geared towards developing easily maintainable and robust workflow processes for managing and monitoring projects and tasks. The major release will include new business application features such as time series and forecasting analysis. Future releases (beyond 2013) will focus on providing intuitive and guided solutions for business analysts to perform data mining and predictive analytics. A great deal of emphasis will be placed on enhancing the data visualization components to further the usability of the tool and ease of integration with Microsoft Office. One of the key modules that both releases will focus on is extending the existing scorecard module, aiming to improve the workflow. Deployment Angoss offers three modes of deployment client, network, and cloud. Client deployment in this configuration (Figure 2) KnowledgeStudio, KnowledgeSeeker, and KnowledgeExcelerator are installed directly on a local PC for single user access. The Angoss client, engine and the Lexalytics Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 6
Salience engine (where text analytics is deployed) all reside on the local drive and communicate directly with the customer s networked data center to import/export/store data for use with the software. The platform engine communicates directly with the client s local working directory, allowing access to locally stored project files. Additionally, the Salience engine communicates directly with the customer s networked database server for analysis and storage of text (unstructured) data Figure 2: Angoss client deployment Source: Angoss Client/server deployment As with the client deployment, a network deployment (Figure 3) of Angoss resides almost entirely on the customer s servers. The platform client is installed on PCs to allow users with licenses to access the Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 7
server from their workstations. However, any platform engines are located on the networked servers along with the corporate working directory. This installation option is available for KnowledgeStudio and KnowledgeSeeker. Figure 3: Angoss network deployment Source: Angoss Cloud deployment Both KnowledgeStudio and KnowledgeSeeker can reside within the cloud (Figure 4), running on Angoss servers. The servers house the Angoss platform engine, as well as a working directory that is used to store files and data imported from the customer s enterprise servers. This data is securely transferred past the external firewall via an SFTP client, and is processed by a corresponding protocol within Angoss s servers. The Angoss servers cannot communicate directly with the customer s data center. Users can access the platform from any PC that has the Angoss client installed on it, provided they have a user license. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 8
Figure 4: Angoss cloud deployment Source: Angoss Deployment examples Bell Bell is a Canadian telecoms company with around 28 million customer connections. The company is increasingly challenged to grow market share in the face of increasing competition in the communication services sector. Bell s marketing department relied heavily on expert predictive modeling and segmentation staff for campaigns. This team contributed to all marketing initiatives, from campaign planning to execution and managed over analytical 100 models from development to refresh and validation. The team spent 50% of their time on model development and maintenance, and the remainder on data mining, consulting, and planning. KnowledgeStudio data mining and predictive analytics helped them optimize their time and achieve better campaign results. Team members saw the interoperability of Angoss products and the ease of integration between KnowledgeStudio and their statistical environment as a key benefit. Using KnowledgeStudio, they were able to recommend immediate action to the marketing teams, increasing the reach of their campaigns. One campaign that saw substantially improved results through the application of decision trees in KnowledgeStudio focused on increasing retention of customers of high speed Internet service. By using specific variables to grow a decision tree structure, the Bell team was able to accurately identify the Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 9
characteristics of the customers most likely to cancel their service subscription. Applying business rules generated via the tool, the campaign team took immediate action to mitigate future churn and manage and improve revenue. Another Bell project focused on customer acquisition. Using decision trees and supplemental modeling the project achieved a 10% increase in incremental revenues. The model improved the efficacy of customer targeting, leading to six figure increases in revenues. Sainsbury s Sainsbury s is a UK supermarket. Sainsbury s Finance provides a range of products including insurance, credit cards, savings, and loans. It understands the value of its customer data and has been leveraging this information for customer acquisition, retention, and cross sales. With millions of customers in its database, Sainsbury's Finance required an analytical solution that was fast, flexible, user friendly, and capable of handling large amounts of data. After evaluating various software options, Sainsbury Finance chose Angoss KnowledgeStudio from among several competitors. Solution deployment was a particularly important issue for Sainsbury. Previous solutions required manual verification of code a lengthy process. KnowledgeStudio s speed and flexibility, combined with a variety of modeling techniques and automated code generation, was what it needed to move models into production. KnowledgeStudio is now the key tool that Sainsbury's Finance uses to gain customer insights for strategic decision making. Over the past year, the company has used Angoss KnowledgeStudio to focus on monitoring credit card use and to predict customer responsiveness to other Sainsbury s Finance products. The models that have been designed have been successfully deployed from Angoss as views in Teradata, the company s enterprise data warehouse. Sainsbury's Finance analysts use KnowledgeStudio for data visualization to understand consumer behavior. This enables them to recognize and identify customers for marketing purposes. Marketing strategically to customers who are more likely to purchase new products translates into more successful marketing campaigns. DATA SHEET Key facts about the solution Table 1: Data sheet Product names KnowledgeStudio KnowledgeSeeker Product classification Data mining and predictive analytics software KnowledgeExcelerator KnowledgeCloud KnowledgeScore Version number 1) KnowledgeStudio & Release date 1) November 29, 2012 Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 10
KnowledgeSeeker 8.5 2) September 27, 2012 2) KnowledgeExcelerator 8.5 3) August 21, 2012 3) KnowledgeScore 4) February 14, 2012 4) KnowledgeCloud Industries covered Financial sector Geographies covered Americas (73% install base) Communications sector EMEA (21%) Distribution sector Asia Pacific (6%) Relevant company sizes Large (80% of customers) Medium sized (15%) Small (5%) Platforms supported Microsoft Windows XP professional, SP2 +; Vista; 7; Windows Server 2003, 2008 (32/64 bit, where applicable) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32/64 bit), 6 (64 bit) Solaris 9 & 10 on SPARC architecture AIX 6.1 Languages supported English for user interface Data can be in any language or encoding Text analysis can be done in English, French, Spanish, Portugese, or German Licensing options Term fixed licenses (1 10 users Seeker & Studio desktop or client server, 1 50+ for Excelerator) On demand (cloud) per seat: annual, quarterly, monthly Deployment options On premise software license Route(s) to market Direct sales On demand, cloud Resellers Fully managed, hosted Online URL www.angoss.com www.whatsinyourdata.com Company headquarters 111 George Street, Suite 200Toronto, Ontario M5A 2N4Canada European headquarters Surrey Technology Centre40 Occam RoadThe Surrey Research ParkGuildford, Surrey GU2 7YG North America headquarters HQ Toronto, CanadaUS Office:1101 30th Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20007 Source: Angoss APPENDIX Further reading On the Radar: Angoss, IT012 000062 (September 2012) 2013 Trends to Watch: BI and Analytics, IT014 002648 (October 2012) Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 11
Methodology Ovum Technology Audits are independent product reviews carried out using Ovum s evaluation model for the relevant technology area, supported by conversations with vendors, users, and service providers of the solution concerned, and in depth secondary research. Author Surya Mukherjee, Senior Analyst, Information Management surya.mukherjee@ovum.com Ovum Consulting We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Ovum s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at consulting@ovum.com. Disclaimer All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Ovum (an Informa business). The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 12