Manufacturing Magazine November 2024 | Page 58

SPOTFIRE
Cloud Software Group ’ s Spotfire is transforming data analysis for the energy and manufacturing sectors , offering unique visual data science capabilities

In today ’ s data-driven world , industries are constantly searching for more effective ways to analyse and interpret vast amounts of information . At the forefront of this market is Spotfire , a visual data science platform that “ makes smart people smarter ”.

Spotfire offers unique capabilities that set it apart from traditional data analysis tools in that it combines visual analytics , data science and data wrangling to allow experts to analyse data – at-rest , in-motion and at-scale – so augmenting human creativity and the power of modern computing to solve problems .
Spotfire is part of the Cloud Software Group , an enterprise software organisation . Brad Hopper , VP of Vertical Markets at Cloud Software Group , explains the genesis of Spotfire and its evolution into a powerful tool for various industries .
“ Spotfire was founded as part of human computer interaction research at Chalmers University and the University of Maryland ,” he says .
Spotfire was initially focused on the pharmaceutical research sector . It quickly gained traction among biologists and chemists , until the majority of pharmaceutical companies globally were using it for their research processes .
Brad has spent his career at the forefront of data analytics in manufacturing and energy . He has a background in manufacturing , including degrees from UC Berkeley , and worked at AMD as a process and yield engineer . His journey with Spotfire began in the early days of the company .
“ I joined just a few years after the company started . I was employee number 65 ,” he recalls .
His engineering pedigree and prior experience gave him unique insights into the potential applications of Spotfire ’ s technology and he has helped shape Spotfire ’ s visual analytics technology into a powerful tool for industries ranging from semiconductors to oil and gas .
“ The moment I saw Spotfire , I said , ‘ this is something that really needs to be in the semiconductor business ’,” Brad explains .
Just 18 months later , seven of the top ten semiconductor companies in the world were using the solution . The company ’ s success in these and other industries was down to its ability to address a significant gap in the market .
“ Semiconductors was underserved from a data analytics perspective ,” Brad says . “ They had these super-advanced , super high-powered and very complex vertical applications . Each company
58 November 2024