The amount of data in the world today is a staggering 33 zettabytes as of 2018. According to IDC, that number will grow to 175 zettabytes by 2025 – an increase of 61 percent!

With these enormous quantities of data at our fingertips, analytics will inevitably take on an increasingly significant role in the years to come. The following are some major trends we’re sure to see in 2019 and beyond:

1. More entry-level analytics tools

The learning curve will be reduced as intuitive entry-level tools help inexperienced marketers and business owners understand their business. Accessible user interfaces and easy-to-understand insights will drive an increasing number of smaller players into the field, bringing advanced data analytics to the layman.

Simple data visualization and straightforward actionable feedback will empower novice users to conceptualize what’s going on in their business and make adjustments and meaningful business decisions based on analytics.

2. Intelligent recommendations in context

Data analytics tools will increasingly provide intelligent recommendations and analysis in context. You’re probably used to seeing top posts ranked by engagement, but imagine getting deeper insights as you’re creating content… For instance, you might see a message that says, “Your posts with the tag ‘#cats’ got 20% more engagement than those without. Add #cats tag now?”

Highly advanced analytics tools will be able to give you this sort of valuable information, and more, as AI and machine-learning solutions become more prevalent.

3. Machine learning integrated into the mainstream

Advancements in machine learning and AI are growing rapidly. As automation in data analytics becomes cheaper and easier to implement, we will see a profound impact on the quality of analytics tools available in the mainstream.

The sheer volume of data collected by businesses will necessitate the use of such automation – AI, machine and reinforcement learning, deep learning-powered predictive analytics, etc. – to uncover key insights quickly or otherwise risk losing competitive edge. Harnessing the power of these technologies via mainstream analytics tools will simply be a matter of course.

4. The advent of the Chief Data Officer

Still a relatively new concept, the Chief Data Officer (CDO) is primarily responsible for overseeing the collection, management, and storage of data as an asset. CDOs operationalize the insights that analytics provides – ultimately informing business strategy. With the huge amounts of data that businesses must handle every day, having a C-level executive dedicated to all things data-related will be more and more vital.

The role of the CDO will also be increasingly important as data collection and privacy laws around the world continue to be implemented and enforced, requiring specialized knowledge for compliance.

5. Greater attention to data retention policies

Today, businesses are realizing how imperative it is to not only optimize data security but also to revamp privacy and data retention policies so that sensitive data isn’t siphoned up and stored needlessly, or without informed consent… especially when doing so can run afoul of new laws like the GDPR.

As the consequences for data leaks become more costly and damaging, we will see businesses going to greater lengths to minimize, anonymize, and safeguard their data.

Looking for more insights on the year ahead? Check out our CEO and Futurist Anne A. Ward’s list of predictions for 2019.