Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company, on Thursday launched a new version of Zoho Analytics, tagged Zoho’s self-service BI and analytics platform.

Among more than 100 other enhancements, Zoho Analytics has developed powerful new AI and ML capabilities, enabling diagnostic insights, predictive analysis, and automated report and dashboard generation.

Additionally, Zoho Analytics now includes a custom ML model-building studio, seamless integration with Open AI, 25+ new data connectors, and third-party BI platform extensions.

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The latest version has added power, intelligence, and flexibility to serve a broader range of businesses and users than competitors in the market.

Recent research from Oracle reveals that 97% of business leaders want data to drive their decision-making processes. Additionally, a Gartner study predicts that by 2026, two-thirds of B2B sales organisations will shift from intuition-based to data-driven decision-making.

“Zoho Analytics, launched as Zoho Reports in 2009, entered the market long before technology had caught up with Zoho’s forward-thinking vision for business intelligence,” said Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head, Zoho Nigeria.

“Since then, Zoho has made considerable investments around automation, no-code/low-code development, third-party integration, machine learning, and Zia, Zoho’s in-house AI engine.

“The latest version of Zoho Analytics is one of the first solutions from the company that takes advantage of every one of these decades-long investments.

“The result is a democratised platform that is powerful, intelligent, and flexible enough to benefit everyone and anyone.”

The latest version of Zoho Analytics has advanced across four key areas: Data Management, AI, Data Science & Machine Learning, and Extensibility. Below are notable highlights of the platform across these four categories.

Data Management Hub

Zoho Analytics has expanded its data management capabilities, adding Stream Analytics, ETL data pipelines, and metrics-layer enhancements to ensure broader access to more accurate data for businesses.

It has expanded its 500+ data connector portfolio by adding Stream Analytics, along with 25 other new data connectors. Business users can now create and manage complex ETL data pipelines within the platform. New Unified Metrics Layer enables users to define, standardise, monitor, access control, and catalogue all business metrics in a single pane.

The platform also extends to serve in a Headless BI mode, allowing data apps to consume the same metrics in real time for consistent and dependable insights.

BI Infused with Generative AI

Zoho Analytics has introduced Generative AI capabilities across the BI platform to accelerate the adoption of insights for a broad spectrum of user personas. With Zoho’s AI-powered, automated insights engine, Zia Insights, now provides diagnostic analytics contextually, bringing decision intelligence into the platform.

Ask Zia, Zoho’s multilingual Natural Language Querying AI copilot, has been enhanced, allowing users to trigger actions and build custom data models. Users can now converse with Ask Zia within IM channels, including Microsoft Teams, to generate deeper, faster, and more contextual insights and actions. Zoho Analytics now has Auto Analysis, enabling AI-powered automated metrics, report, and dashboard generation.

Zoho Analytics’ seamless Open AI integration drives more relevant and accurate query responses. Using Open AI APIs with BYOK, users can more easily find public datasets and create formula & SQL queries.

Data Science and Machine Learning Studio

Zoho Analytics now features the Data Science and Machine Learning (DSML) Studio, supporting users to build custom machine learning models for specific business requirements. With AutoML, a no-code assistant, to build custom ML models easily. With ‌feature engineering, hyperparameter tuning, and comprehensive model analysis, it enables users to ‌train, test, compare, deploy, and manage models.

Zoho Analytics also features Code Studio, the platform’s new integrated Python code environment where users can create custom ML models, as well as import Python models or externally built libraries, which can be executed within the platform.

Platform Extensibility

Zoho Analytics is more deeply extendable, adding new capabilities such as its no-code builder for data connectors, actions framework, BI fabric, and client SDKs. It is a composable platform on which any analytical solution can be built. Its new BI fabric enables businesses to consolidate insights from multiple BI platforms, such as Power BI and Tableau, onto one, easily accessible and searchable analytics portal.

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Within Zoho Analytics, users can trigger actionable workflows, including URL and Webhook actions. The platform integrates seamlessly with Zoho Flow, enabling 500+ app triggers. It features a no-code data connector builder, allowing users to create custom connectors to bring data from any custom application. Partners can also build data connectors that can be published and sold on Zoho Marketplace.

The new Zoho Analytics release features over 100+ updates, including new visualisations, enhanced dashboard building, audit and admin controls, revamped mobile apps, Right-to-Left (RTL) support, and more.

Disclaimer: All trademarks, product names, and company names cited herein are the property of their respective owners.

Dutch-based venture builder, 15Wins Ventures, is in the process of raising a ₦5 billion venture fund, aiming to supercharge the growth and scalability of high-potential startups across Nigeria.

The 15Wins Ventures fund is poised to transform the Nigerian entrepreneurial landscape by providing the essential capital that emerging businesses need to make a lasting impact on the economy. With a strategic focus on sectors crucial to Nigeria’s future—such as fintech, agritech, healthtech, e-commerce, and renewable energy—the Fund is perfectly aligned with the nation’s most pressing needs and growth opportunities.

“Our goal is to discover and cultivate the next generation of Nigerian innovators who are ready to disrupt industries and drive significant economic growth,” said Nelson T. Ajulo, Chief Executive Officer of 15Wins Ventures.

“We are fully committed to supporting startups with rapid growth potential, ensuring they receive the resources and mentorship required for success.

“These entrepreneurs will not only build thriving businesses but also make meaningful contributions to Nigeria’s broader economic development.”

Each year, the 15Wins Ventures fund aims to empower at least 10 startups with up to ₦50 million in funding. This focused investment approach ensures that the fund’s resources are directed towards the most promising ventures, giving them a strong foundation for growth.

“The Nigerian startup ecosystem is brimming with talent and potential,” Nelson continued.

“With the right support, these startups can achieve remarkable success on both local and global scales.

“We see this Fund as a catalyst for unlocking that potential, driving innovation, creating jobs, and contributing to Nigeria’s sustainable economic development.”

Beyond financial support, 15Wins Ventures is committed to providing startups with access to a vast network of mentors, industry experts, and investors.

This comprehensive ecosystem of support is designed to offer unparalleled growth opportunities and foster collaboration, helping startups navigate the challenges of scaling and making significant contributions to their sectors.

Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions that defeat cyberattacks, on Thursday released findings from its annual sector survey report, “The State of Ransomware in Education 2024.”

According to the report, the median ransom payment was $6.6 million for lower education and $4.4 million for higher education organizations.

In addition, the survey states that 55% of lower education respondents and 67% of higher education respondents paid more than the initial demand.

Ransomware attacks are causing more of a strain as only 30% of ransomware victims surveyed in both lower and higher education were able to fully recover in a week or less, down from last year’s 33% (lower education) and 40% (higher education).

This slowing recovery rate is likely due to education organizations operating with limited teams and resources, making it harder for them to coordinate recovery efforts.

“Unfortunately, schools, universities and other educational institutions are targets that are beholden to municipalities, communities and the students themselves, which inherently creates high pressure situations if they are hit and destabilized by ransomware.

“Educational institutions feel a sense of responsibility to remain open and continue providing their services to their communities.

“These two factors could be contributing to why victims feel so much pressure to pay,” said Chester Wisniewski, director, field CTO, Sophos.

“We also know that ransomware attackers have upped the ante when it comes to getting paid. Compromising their victims’ backups is now a mainstream element of ransomware attacks, giving adversaries the opportunity to subsequently increase the ransom demand when it is clear that the data cannot be recovered without the decryption key.”

In fact, 95% of respondents said that cybercriminals tried to compromise their backups during the attack, with 71% being successful – the second highest backup compromise rate across all industry sectors. Having backups compromised also considerably increases recovery costs, with the total bill coming in five times higher in lower education and four times higher in higher education.

Despite difficult dealings with ransomware, the overall attack rate dropped over the last year. Sixty-three percent of lower education organizations and 66% of higher education organizations were hit by ransomware attacks – down from 80% and 79%, respectively.

At the same time, the rate of data encryption has increased slightly, with eighty-five percent of attacks on lower education and 77% of attacks on higher education organizations resulting in data encryption, slightly up from the 81% and 73%, respectively, reported in the 2023 survey.

Unfortunately, cybercriminals are not only encrypting data, they’re also stealing it, using it as leverage to further monetize the attack. Twenty-two percent of lower education organizations that had data encrypted said the data was also stolen, together with 18% in higher education.

The survey reveals that exploited vulnerabilities were the leading root cause of attacks in education, providing cybercriminals with a way into the network for 44% of lower education and 42% of higher education ransomware attacks.

Based on this Sophos survey data, schools and other educational organizations could benefit from a layered security approach that includes vulnerability scanning and patching prioritization guidance to reduce their attack surface, endpoint protection with anti-ransomware capabilities that automatically detect and stop attacks, and 24/7 human-led managed detection and response (MDR) services to neutralize advanced human-led attacks, ideally leveraging telemetry from backup solutions to detect and stop adversaries before they can cause damage.

“While there appears to be some positive progress towards combatting ransomware in the education sector, it’s concerning that the rate of data encryption continues to increase year after year, which suggests educational organizations need to continue working towards improving their ransomware resilience.

“With stretched resources and limited budgets, education organizations need to focus on the controls that will have the greatest impact. With the median ransomware recovery cost for education now hitting $3 million, it’s clear that investing in strong prevention and protection solution can considerably reduce the overall financial impact of cyber to educational organizations,” said Wisniewski.

Sophos’ report this year incorporates new areas of study: insight into the role of law enforcement in ransomware remediation for education providers.

Ninety-nine percent of lower education and 98% of higher education organizations engaged with law enforcement and/or official government bodies following a ransomware attack. As a result, 64% of lower education organizations and 66% of higher education organizations benefitted from advice about dealing with the attack. Sixty-one percent of lower and higher education organizations received help and support investigating the attack, and nearly 49% of lower education organizations and 48% of higher education organizations sought law enforcement’s help recovering data encrypted in the attack.

Data for the State of Ransomware in Education 2024 report comes from a vendor-agnostic survey of 600 cybersecurity/IT leaders working in the education sector conducted between January and February 2024.

Respondents were based in 14 countries across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. All respondents represent organizations with between 100 and 5,000 employees.

Read the full State of Ransomware in Education 2024 report on Sophos.com for additional global findings and data by sector.