Debunking Common Business Intelligence Myths
Myth #5: It is Expensive and Time-Consuming to Give Mobile BI to Business Users
On June 7 and 8, the ElegantJ BI team attended the Gartner Business Intelligence, Analytics and Information Management Summit in Powai, Mumbai, India. We were honored to be a Silver Sponsor for this Summit. The theme of the Summit was Information & Analytics Leadership: Empowering People with Trusted Data, and the Summit did not disappoint, and it was a really vibrant, exciting experience!
The Summit included panels and speakers from all over the world. This year, the event was bigger and better than ever, with more than 600 people in attendance. The food and hospitality were great. The only issue we faced was poor air conditioning, but we persevered!
It is easy to get confused by the plethora of business intelligence tools and claims in the BI tools market today! But, there is no reason to be discouraged. Your enterprise can cut through the confusion, debunk the BI market myths and make the right decision for the business and for your business users. Choose a tool that will truly empower your business users and allow you to hold users accountable for results and work as a team, with collaborative features and sophisticated, yet simple, self-serve, mobile tools for every user in your enterprise.
There is a lot of noise in the BI marketplace regarding ‘Self-serve BI’. And that is good. As a result, every business understands the value of self-serve BI and data democratization and most businesses are actively working to provide that value to the organization and to the business users by empowering users to make swift, confident decisions.
If your business is confused about the tools in the business intelligence market, you are not alone. There are lot of options in the market today, which is great for the enterprise and its users, but the confusion that this marketplace creates can be daunting when it comes to making a decision about which solution is right for your organization and your business users. If your business has a self-serve business intelligence initiative, the confusion can be even more discouraging. How do you choose a tool that will live up to the hype and your expectations?
Most of us have long since outgrown the school playground but let’s revisit the old neighborhood for a moment, shall we? Imagine that you are a small child and you want to explore all that the playground has to offer. You want to try the swings, the teeter-totter, the swinging bars, the slide – you want to try it all. It is the job of the teachers and parents to keep you safe and, to allow you access to only those parts of the playground that are age appropriate and suitable for your skills.
BI tools and mobility are not mutually exclusive! Most of today’s BI tools vendors claim to support Mobile BI. But when you actually look at the tools, you find that development, publishing, usage scenarios, usability, and effectiveness, fall far short of comprehensive mobility support.
Dashboards designed by most of the BI tools do not allow intuitive navigation or access on all types of devices and screen sizes.
Myth #2 – True Self-Serve BI Tools Will Compromise Data Governance
Today’s business intelligence market offers many options! But, never every business intelligence solution can help your self-serve initiative succeed. When an enterprise undertakes a business intelligence initiative or wishes to improve or upgrade its BI tools, it is easy to get lost in the hype and myth surrounding the market.
If your organization finds it difficult to sort through the buzz and choose the right BI tools, we are here to help.
Do self-serve BI tools support data governance, integral data security and organizational IT standards and policies? In some cases, the answer is ‘no’. But, that shouldn’t stop you from looking at self-serve BI tools. The question isn’t whether the integrity of data governance can be preserved when using self-serve BI tools. The question is really, ‘which vendor should I select in order to achieve true self-serve BI and data democracy without eroding data governance and security?’
Today’s business managers and owners are savvy enough to know that self-serve business intelligence is the way to go. Business users need data visualization, monitoring and analysis if they are going to help the organization to achieve the best results and compete in the market. You want to provide true data democracy in your organization and since most BI tools vendors are pitching the benefits of self-serve BI, one might assume that real self-serve BI tools are available from every vendor, but nothing could be further from the truth (so, buyer beware!)