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Happy Thursday! 🍃

Welcome to BIPro #73—Your Weekly Data Power-Up! 🚀

In today’s fast-moving business world, real-time insights aren’t just nice to have—they’re a must. This week, we’re diving into the hottest BI trends, game-changing strategies, and key reads to elevate your BI expertise. Ready to level up? Let’s jump in!

🧠 Thought Leadership: AI-Driven Boardrooms

Explore "Unleashing the Power of Data with Trusted AI" by Wendy Turner-Williams. A must-read for board members and executives looking to modernize with data and AI.

📊 Trending Now: Data Viz That Drives the Future

➖ 5 Must-Know R Packages for Data Analysis

➖ Master Pandas: Complex Filters Made Easy

➖ Handling Categorical Data with Pandas Like a Pro

➖ Cross-Correlation with NumPy: Simplified

📖 Packt's Latest Must-Reads

➖ Data Literacy with Python by Oswald Campesato

➖ Data Analysis for Business Decisions: A Laboratory Manual by Andres Fortino

➖ Generative AI with Amazon Bedrock: Build, scale, and secure generative AI applications using Amazon Bedrock by Shikhar Kwatra and Bunny Kaushik

➖ Database Design and Modeling with PostgreSQL and MySQL: Build efficient and scalable databases for modern applications using open source databases by Alkin Tezuysal and Mr. Ibrar Ahmed

🔄 BI in Action: Real-World Data Wins

➖ BigQuery + Anthropic’s Claude: A Winning Combo

➖ Cut Costs with Dataflow's New Source Reads

➖ Valkey Meets Memorystore: Speed and Efficiency

➖ Resilience at Scale by using Amazon QuickSight and Amazon Resilience Hub

⚡ Instant BI Hacks: Boost Your Impact

➖ New Deployment Pipelines: Faster & Smoother

➖ TMDL Support for ALM Toolkit: Better Resilience

➖ AWS Glue + Salesforce Integration: Accelerate Like Never Before

➖ Manage Amazon Redshift Serverless with AWS CDK

🎤 Expert Insights: Voices of BI

➖ SQL Index: Rebuild or Reorganize?

➖ Microsoft Copilot for Azure SQL: Next-Level Database Management

➖ From TV Screens to Tableau: Visualize Your Favorite Shows with IMDb

➖ Generative AI: Making Sense of Messy Data

Dig in and take your BI game to new heights! 🌟

Calling All Data & BI Enthusiasts!

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Merlyn Shelley

Editor-in-Chief, Packt

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We’re thrilled to bring you this week’s must-have new releases, straight from the experts to your bookshelf! Whether you're eager to enhance your skills or explore new horizons, now is the perfect moment to add these invaluable resources to your collection.

For a limited time,enjoy 30% off all eBooks at Packtpub.com. These books are thoughtfully crafted by industry insiders with hands-on experience, offering unique insights you won’t find anywhere else.

Don’t let these Packt-exclusive deals slip away—seize the opportunity to learn from the best at an unbeatable price!

Data Literacy with Python: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Analyzing Data with Python

By Mercury Learning and Information, Oswald Campesato

Unlock the world of data with this engaging new book designed to make learning data analysis, statistics, and visualization easier than ever. Here’s what you’ll discover:

↔️ Clear, step-by-step explanations for key concepts

↔️ Practical, hands-on Python examples to bring data to life

↔️ Easy-to-follow progression from data basics to advanced model training

↔️ Powerful tools like Matplotlib and Seaborn for stunning visualizations

↔️ Real-world datasets and code to practice along the way

This book is your guide to making sense of data, from cleaning and analyzing to visualizing and making data-driven decisions—all with Python! Get the eBook for $34.98 (originally $49.99) —master data analysis today!

Data Analysis for Business Decisions: A Laboratory Manual

By Mercury Learning and Information, Andres Fortino

Step into the world of business analytics with this hands-on guide, designed to boost your statistical skills using Excel. Here's what you'll learn:

↔ Practical case studies for real-world applications

↔ How to clean, shape, and analyze data in Excel

↔ Use Excel's Analysis ToolPak for powerful statistical insights

↔ Master regression, forecasting, and A/B testing for better business decisions

This book takes you from basics to advanced techniques, helping you make data-driven decisions with ease! Get the eBook now for $34.98 (originally $49.99) and boost your analytics skills!

Generative AI with Amazon Bedrock: Build, scale, and secure generative AI applications using Amazon Bedrock

By Shikhar Kwatra, Bunny Kaushik

Discover the power of generative AI with this hands-on guide to Amazon Bedrock. Designed for practical application, you'll learn how to tackle real-world business challenges. Key highlights include:

↔ Expert foundations of Amazon Bedrock from AWS specialists

↔ Techniques for building and scaling AI applications

↔ Advanced tips for prompt engineering and secure frameworks

↔ Real-world cases, from text generation to virtual assistants

↔ Best practices for security, monitoring, and ethical AI

Master AI and drive innovation with confidence! Get the eBook now for just $24.99 (originally $35.99) and start mastering AI with Amazon Bedrock today!

Database Design and Modeling with PostgreSQL and MySQL: Build efficient and scalable databases for modern applications using open source databases

By Alkin Tezuysal, Mr. Ibrar Ahmed

Dive into the world of database design and modeling with this practical guide to PostgreSQL and MySQL. Whether you're a beginner or looking to enhance your skills, here's what you'll learn:

↔ Master database design, from fundamentals to advanced concepts

↔ Hands-on exercises for real-world application

↔ Seamless integration with web apps and emerging database trends

↔ Tips on optimizing, scaling, and managing databases effectively

Get ready to build modern, scalable databases with confidence! Get the eBook now for just $21.99 (originally $31.99) and start mastering PostgreSQL and MySQL database design today!

➽ 5 Must-Know R Packages for Data Analysis: This blog introduces five essential R packages—dplyr, ggplot2, tidyr, lubridate, and shiny—highlighting their roles in data manipulation, visualization, and application development. It emphasizes how mastering these tools enhances productivity in data analysis.

➽ How to Implement Complex Filters on DataFrame Columns with Pandas? This blog explains various methods for filtering data in a Pandas DataFrame using conditions, logical operators, string functions, lambda functions, and the query method, demonstrating efficient techniques for data manipulation in Python.

➽ How to Manage Categorical Data Effectively with Pandas? This blog explains how to manage categorical data in Pandas, highlighting its memory efficiency compared to object types. It covers creating, renaming, and ordering categories while demonstrating practical examples for optimizing data analysis workflows.

➽ How to Compute the Cross-Correlation Between Two NumPy Arrays? This blog explains cross-correlation, a method to measure similarity between two data sequences by shifting one relative to the other. It covers how to compute cross-correlation using NumPy’s `np.correlate` function, with examples and visualizations.

Developing for iOS? Setapp's 2024 report on the state of the iOS market in the EU is a must-see

How do users in the EU find apps? What's the main source of information about new apps? Would users install your app from a third-party app marketplace?

Set yourself up for success with these and more valuable marketing insights in Setapp Mobile's report iOS Market Insights for EU.

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➽ Integrating BigQuery with Anthropic’s Claude: This blog discusses Google Cloud's integration of Anthropic's Claude models with BigQuery, enabling organizations to apply advanced generative AI for tasks like data analysis, summarization, translation, and more, enhancing productivity and data-driven decision-making.

➽ Cut Costs & Boost Efficiency with Dataflow's New Source Reads: This blog discusses how Google Cloud’s Dataflow load balancing optimizes streaming pipelines by redistributing workloads, reducing costs, and improving latency. It highlights real-world use cases where load balancing significantly improved performance, reduced backlogs, and lowered worker scaling costs.

➽ Announcing Memorystore for Valkey: This blog announces the launch of Memorystore for Valkey 7.2, an open-source, high-performance key-value datastore. It highlights Valkey's integration with Google Cloud, benefits like cost-efficient scaling, and its compatibility with Redis, offering improved data management solutions.

➽ Assess Resilience at Scale by using Amazon QuickSight and Amazon Resilience Hub: This blog explains how to integrate AWS Resilience Hub with Amazon QuickSight for centralized resilience monitoring across multiple accounts. It guides users through collecting and visualizing resilience data, improving application resilience posture in AWS Organizations.

Unleashing the Power of Data with Trusted AI: A guide for board members and executives

By Wendy Turner-Williams

Modernizing the boardroom to steer data and AI

The expertise provided and methods proposed by boards of directors of the past are outdated and inadequate for today’s standards of quality, ethics, and responsible use practices. Leadership roles for boards and executives must evolve significantly, extending well beyond merely maximizing profits or maintaining organizational stability. The emergence of everyday AI has broadened responsibilities, introducing ethical dilemmas, bias mitigation, and a much deeper understanding of data management intricacies and execution.

This seismic shift extends beyond mere technological adaptation; it permeates every facet of an organization with the board of directors playing a pivotal role in orchestrating this transformative journey. As organizations grapple with the colossal task of integrating AI, a boardroom metamorphosis is inevitable. Embracing this change requires a deep introspection of the status quo; an understanding that AI adoption demands a deeper insight into data and its responsible use along with the acknowledgement that to do so, change will touch every corner of the organizational framework. This change reaches the highest echelons of leadership—the board of directors and executive leadership. This realization is reflected in46% of boardroom leadersstating that generative AI is currently their “main priority above anythingelse.”5

“46% of boardroom learders stated that generative AI is currently their main priority above anything else.”

One might ask, why is AI a board concern? Well, the introduction of AI technologies means the board’s fiduciary responsibility extends far beyond corporate profit. Boards are responsible for the health of the company and the management of company risk. This includes bridging various stakeholder interests, including customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and now society at large. The board’s oversight is crucial in ensuring that AI initiatives prioritize ethical considerations, maintain quality standards, protect privacy, address new security challenges, and adhere to regulatory compliance, thereby upholding stakeholders’ trust and confidence in the organization.

The complex nature of AI technologies demands a strategic and structured approach. AI is fueled by one thing and one thing only—your data. Therefore, systemic cultural changes are required to overcome the challenges of scaling data and analytics. Over 90% of executives—91.9% in 2022—point to culture as the greatest impediment to achieving this business outcome. Only8.1%cite technology limitations as the primary impediment.6

91.9%

Executives cite cultural barriers as the principal obstacle

8.1%

Executives cite technology limitations as the primary impediment

The appointment of a Chief Data and AI Officer (CDAIO) willbe of paramount importance in this new paradigm. Reporting directly to the CEO and the board, this figure should be responsible for crafting comprehensive data and AI strategies and implementing tactical approaches, while weighing and devising risk mitigation measures for the organization’s AI initiatives. Their role is central to ensuring that AI integration aligns with the organization’s data offense and defense objectives.

Want to dive deeper into the conversation and explore all the key takeaways? Sign up for a 7-day free trial and enjoy full access to the book. If you're already a Packt subscriber, you can read it for free! Plus, for a limited time, you can grab the e-book at 30% off. Don’t miss this chance to learn from the top 1% of industry experts and gain insights from their real-world experiences!

➽ Introducing the New Deployment Pipelines design: A leap forward in deployment Efficiency. This blog announces the redesigned Deployment Pipeline UI for Microsoft Fabric, offering an improved, user-friendly interface with enhanced features like stage-focused actions, search, filter, and zoom, while retaining core functionalities for a smoother deployment process.

➽ Announcing TMDL support for the ALM Toolkit: This blog announces that the ALM Toolkit now supports semantic model diffs in the TMDL format, enhancing Power BI's Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) with Git-friendly, human-readable metadata, facilitating collaboration, incremental changes, and automation for enterprise-scale models.

➽ Accelerate data integration with Salesforce and AWS using AWS Glue: This blog introduces the Salesforce connector for AWS Glue, a serverless data integration service, enabling seamless extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) of Salesforce data into AWS destinations, streamlining data integration and reducing silos across SaaS platforms.

➽ Use the AWS CDK with the Data Solutions Framework to provision and manage Amazon Redshift Serverless: This blog introduces the Data Solutions Framework (DSF) for AWS, demonstrating how to use AWS CDK and DSF to build a multi-data warehouse platform with Redshift Serverless. It simplifies provisioning, ETL jobs, data sharing, and collaboration across environments.

➽ SQL Index Rebuild vs Reorganize Comparison: This tutorial explains the impact of index fragmentation on SQL Server performance and the importance of maintaining indexes. It compares two defragmentation methods—Index Rebuild and Reorganize—and discusses their features, fill factor settings, and index statistics for optimal performance.

➽ Microsoft Copilot for Azure SQL Database Management and Development: This article introduces Microsoft Copilot for Azure SQL Database, an AI assistant that integrates with Azure services to enhance productivity. It provides intelligent assistance for design, operation, optimization, and troubleshooting tasks, using natural language and large language models (LLMs).

➽ From TV Screens to Tableau: Visualize Your Favorite Shows with IMDb. This blog by Kevin Flerlage, a Tableau Visionary, reflects on childhood memories, TV nostalgia, and his passion for data visualization. He explores Tableau's Data + TV challenge using IMDb data to analyze TV shows and share engaging insights.

➽ Using Generative AI To Get Insights from Disorderly Data: This blog explores how to use generative AI, specifically GPT, for data analysis in operations, sharing best practices like data filtering, Python automation, ticket analysis, and visualization. It highlights AI's potential to streamline complex data workflows and improve productivity.

See you next time!

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