Drill to Detail Ep.34 'Qlik, MSAS and the Strategy of Data Analytics' with Special Guest Donald Farmer

Mark Rittman is joined by Donald Farmer to talk about his work at Microsoft on SQL Server Analysis Services and Integration Services, why he moved to Qlik and the challenges of evolving a BI product strategy from focusing on desktops to focusing on the enterprise, and some advice for customers, software vendors and partners working with data and analytics tools.

Drill to Detail Ep.33 'Building Out Analytics Functions in Startups' With Special Guest Tristan Handy

In this episode Mark is joined by Tristan Handy from Fishtown Analytics to talk about building-out analytics functions in high-growth startups, and three related blog posts he wrote on this topic.

• Fishtown Analytics
• dbt (data build tool) and Fishtown Analytics Github repos
• “The Startup Founder’s Guide to Analytics”
• “What are the steps / tools in setting up a modern, SaaS-based BI infrastructure?”
• “Building a Mature Analytics Workflow: The Analyst Collective Viewpoint”

Drill to Detail Ep.27 'Apache Kafka, Streaming Data Integration and Schema Registry' with Special Guest Gwen Shapira

Mark Rittman is joined by Gwen Shapira from Confluent to talk about Apache Kafka, streaming data integration and how it differs from batch-based, GUI-developed ETL development, the problem with architects, exactly-once processing and how data governance is coming to Kafka development with Confluent's new schema registry server.

Drill to Detail Ep.26 'Airflow, Superset & The Rise of the Data Engineer' with Special Guest Maxime Beauchemin

Mark Rittman is joined by Maxime Beauchemin to talk about analytics and data integration at Airbnb, the Apache Airflow and Superset open-source projects he helped launch and now works with day-to-day at Airbnb , and his recent Medium article on "The Rise of the Data Engineer".

• "The Rise of the Data Engineer" blog by Maxime Beauchemin
• Apache Airflow
• Airbnb Superset
• "Engineers Shouldn’t Write ETL: A Guide to Building a High Functioning Data Science Department" blog by Jeff Magnusson

Drill to Detail Ep.25 'SAP BusinessObjects Analytics, AI and Digital Transformation' With Special Guest Timo Elliott

Mark Rittman is joined by Timo Elliott, originally of Business Objects and now Innovation Evangelist for SAP, to talk about the origins of self-service BI with Business Objects' innovative "Universe" and the role analytics now plays within SAP; why analytics is the most important function within your organization and why the vast majority of analytics is still reporting (which isn't so bad); and the role AI and other innovations will play in analytics going in the future.

• Timo's Elliott Business Analytics and Digital Business Blog
• "Analytics Is The Most Important Business Process in Your Organization!"
• "The Vast Majority of Analytics is Still Reporting (And That’s Not So Bad)"
• "What is the Story of Business Objects" (Quora answer)