KBC as a Data Science Brain Interface

by Petr Šimeček

The Keboola Data App Store has a fresh new addition. That brings us to total of 16 currently available apps, three of which provided by development partners.

This new one is called “aLook Analytics”, and technically it is a clone of our development project, a “Custom Science” app (not available yet, but soon!). It facilitates connection to a GitHub/Bitbucket repository of a specific data science shop, which you can “hire” via the app and enable them to safely work on your project.

This first instance is connected to Adam Votava’s company aLook Analytics (check them out at http://www.alookanalytics.com/).

How does it work?

Let’s imagine you want to build something data-science-complex in your project. You get in touch with aLook and agree on what it is you want them to do for you. You exchange some data, the boys there will do some testing on their side, set up the environment and once they’re done, they’ll give you a short configuration script that you will enter into their app in KBC. Any business agreement regarding their work is to be made directly between you and aLook, Keboola stays on the sidelines for this one.


When you run the app, your data gets served to aLook’s prepared model and scripts, saved in aLooks repository get executed on Keboola servers. All the complex stuff happens and the resulting data gets returned into your project. The app can be (like any other) included in your Orchestrations, which means it can run automatically as a part of your regular workflow.

The user of KBC does not have direct access to the script, protecting aLook’s IP (of course, if you agree with them otherwise, we do not put up any barriers).

Very soon we will enable the generic “Custom Science” app mentioned above. That means that any data science pro can connect their GitHub/Bitbucket themselves - that gives you, our user, the freedom to find the best brain in the world for your job.

Why people and not just machines?

No “Machine Learning Drag&Drop” app provides the same quality as a bit of thought by a seasoned data scientist. We’re talking business analytics here! People can put things in context and be creative, while all machines can do is to adjust (sometimes thousands of) parameters and tests the results against a training set. That may be awesome for facial recognition or self-driving car AI, but in any specific business application, a trained brain will beat the machine. Often you don’t even have enough of a test sample so a bit of abstract thinking is critical and irreplaceable.