Upgrade Your Knowledge With These Top Six Business Intelligence Podcasts

If you are anything like us here at datapine, you are constantly trying to sharpen your business intelligence skills and find out about the latest must-have business intelligence software. Luckily, in today’s content-rich world gaining this knowledge has become easier than ever. From online courses like Data Analysis and Statistical Inference class via Duke, via Coursera to the dozens of informative podcasts, useful information is close at hand. It is possible to improve your BI skill set, learn new intelligence methods, and better understand how to track analytics to see if those new methods are paying off. Our absolute favorite avenue of learning just happens to be podcasts.

Podcasts can be downloaded to a computer or mobile device, usually for free. Usually they are downloaded as individual episodes that then add up to a series. Typically, podcasts are audio files, but they can also be video or other file formats, and are created by a wide variety of individuals, businesses, nonprofit groups, research firms, news and media outlets, and government agencies, on a broad range of topics.

The largest collection of downloadable podcasts currently exists on iTunes, but they can also be found all around the web for free. Podcasts can be a great resource for professionals and organizations to keep up with all the news, trends, and buzz in their industry. Usually around half an hour long, these bursts of information are the perfect length for the daily commute. Check out our top five business intelligence podcasts, and be sure to let us know your own favorites in our comment section or on Twitter @datapine.

1. IBM Big Data and Analytics Hub Podcast

IBM Big Data and Analytics Hub Podcast - Big data is a big sweeping term that is more than just hype. The IBM Big Data and Analytics Hub Podcast helps make sense of the big data jungle by breaking down what big data is and how it affects your business. The topics covered include data science, analytics, and data visualizations, and experts from all over the industry are interviewed on easily digestible episodes. One of our all time favorite episodes, Debunking Big Data Myths, looks at how big data is more than just volume and dives deep into new sources of insight including monitoring social media sentiment.

2. Obsessive-Compulsive Data Quality Radio

Obsessive-Compulsive Data Quality - Obsessive-Compulsive Data Quality Radio has a special feature that many other business intelligence podcasts don't have: vendor-neutrality. Jim Harris hosts a lively mix of interviews and adds his own insights into business intelligence practices and data quality. One of our favorites was Demystifying Data Science, which broke down what a data scientist actually does, requisite skills involved, and provided a straightforward explanation of key concepts such as signal-to-noise ratio, uncertainty, experimentation, and correlation.

3. Marketing Smarts

Marketing Smarts - Marketing Smarts offers podcasts that focus on data and business intelligence from a marketing perspective. Each of the 140 episodes features a 30 min in depth interview with different players from the marketing world. Although this podcast focuses a lot on the human side of business, such as how to create an aura around your product or network better, many of the episodes offer business intelligence take aways. We are big fans of their Metrics and ROI category, particularly: Content, Customer-Centricity, and the Power of Data: Acxiom's Tim Suther on Marketing Smarts.

4. Data Stories

Data Stories - If data visualization is your cup of tea, then this podcast is for you. This bi-weekly podcast produces episodes, usually lasting longer than an hour, focusing on the latest trends in data visualization. It is hard to pick a favorite, but we were super impressed with podcast #36: Data Art w/ Jer Thorp. Jer is a data artist and  the creator of the algorithm and software tool “to aid in the placement of the nearly 3,000 names on the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan.” This inspiring talk discusses the bridge between art and science.

5. What to Think

What To Think - Venture Beat’s very new opinionated business intelligence podcast is always up-to-date with latest market trends in technology field. What verticals are growing, what similar companies are announcing strategic partnerships? What to Think starts each podcast by sharing the startup worlds latest news. Their most recent podcast of their new series Innovation Engines features Tomasz Tunguz, a partner at Redpoint Capital, talking about SaaS investments. He's become quite well-known for an influential blog and newsletter where he writes daily, data-driven posts about key issues facing startups.

6. HBR IdeaCast

This bi-weekly podcast features around 15 minutes long interviews with inspiring professionals, from CEOs of major corporations, data scientists, psychologists, writers to filmmakers. The spectrum of subjects is wide but the core is always better business management and self-development. In the most recent episode, Bill George, Harvard Business School professor and author of "Discover Your True North," gives advice to both new and experienced business professionals on how to become a better leader.

What's your favorite business intelligence podcast? We are looking forward to sharing useful knowledge sources about data visualization or analytics. Let us know in the comment section or at Twitter @datapine.