Platforms which allow data scientists to build and deploy algorithms are increasingly important as businesses look to operationalise their data faster than ever before.
Gartner defines data science platforms simply as "engines for creating machine-learning solutions". For the sake of this article we have broadened Gartner's definition to include everything from data science workbenches, where teams can collaborate on code and deploy it themselves, to guided data science solutions.
See also: How to get a job as a data scientist: What qualifications and skills you need and what employers expect
It is important to remember that all data science platforms are relatively immature and none are a silver bullet. "Data science is not plug and play," Matt Jones, lead analytics strategist at Tessella Analytics told Computerworld UK. "Platforms are fine, but they need to be trained by someone who understands the data and the context it exists in. If you’re outsourcing data science to a tech vendor, be absolutely sure they understand your business and your data."
With that in mind, here are some of the best and most popular data science platforms, from open source to established vendors, being used by enterprises today:
1. Best Data Science Platforms: Microsoft Azure machine learning
Microsoft provides data scientists with a fully managed cloud service for building and deploying predictive analytics into live environments with its Azure Machine Learning platform. The platform comes with built in packages to support custom code in your preferred language, be it Python or R, and a plethora of documentation for data scientists to get started.
The Azure platform allows data scientists to deploy models into production quickly as a web service and then share them on the Azure marketplace to gain exposure. Customers include Carnival Cruises, JLL and Fujitsu.
2. Best Data Science Platforms: SAS Viya
Analytics and BI vendor SAS provides data science and machine learning capabilities through its Viya platform.
This is an example of an analytics vendor providing customers with a platform where they can take their advanced analytics work out of self-contained clusters and into an environment where they can be deployed in a secure, consistent way.
"We try to enable people to use what they want to use, but not reinvent the wheel every time," Peter Pugh-Jones, head of technology at SAS UK and Ireland told Computerworld UK.
3. Best Data Science Platforms: Domino Data Lab
California-based startup Domino Data Lab's platform is another 'workbench' solution, allowing data science teams to do modelling on their preferred data sources, using whatever tools and programming languages they are comfortable with and to collaborate and deploy models straight from Domino as APIs.
It then acts as a hub for all data science activity, elastically provisioning compute in the cloud and deploying in a consistent, secure manner so that IT can take a back seat. Data science teams at insurers Zurich and Allstate are both customers of Domino.
4. Best Data Science Platforms: Cloudera Data Science Workbench
Analytics vendor Cloudera launched its "Data Science Workbench" in March 2017 following the acquisition of Sense.io a year ago. The workbench is intended to be a platform where data science teams can work with their data in popular programming languages like R, Python and Spark in a secured-by-default, collaborative environment.
The idea is to make the modelling and deployment of machine learning and advanced analytics within the enterprise at far greater speeds than if they had to worry about anything other than the actual data science.
5. Best Data Science Platforms: Dataiku
The French startup Dataiku provides a host of guided data science and machine learning processes on its platform DSS. The platform has a level of abstraction so that anyone using it can either code in Python, Pig, R, Hive etc. or use drag and drop functionality to wrangle and model data.
The platform allows teams of data scientists, data analysts, and engineers to prototype, build and deliver data solutions into the businesses from a single place. Previous customers include L'Oreal, Trainline and AXA insurance.
6. Best Data Science Platforms: IBM Data Science Experience
IBM offers a range of data science tools and is preparing to release an IBM Watson-guided machine learning platform.
The current iteration comes with built in learning, so that data scientists can improve the more they engage with the platform, collaboration features and notebook tools for working with popular programming languages, like Jupiter Notebooks for Python and RStudio for R. The enterprise version of the platform retails at $9,200 per instance per month and provides managed Spark clusters and flexible storage.
7. Best Data Science Platforms: RapidMiner
Open source data science platform RapidMiner helps the likes of BMW, Samsung, Dominos and Barclays launch data science projects.
Tools on the RapidMiner platform include Studio, for visual data science workflows, Server for operationalising models, and Radoop for workflows using Hadoop data.
For larger customers or projects there are enterprise versions of the platform which range from $2,500 to $10,000 a year depending on the rows of data.
8. Best Data Science Platforms: Knime
The open source and free Knime Analytics Platform looks to give data scientists a blank canvas to work on projects using various data sources and the tools they are comfortable with in a scalable environment.
The open platform comes with thousands of native nodes and modules, extensive documentation and pre-packaged advanced algorithms to get started quickly. Data scientists can toggle quickly between single computer, streaming or big data on top of or alongside existing infrastructure and makes sure that everything is backwards compatible and easily portable for flexibility.
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