Tag: Modern Analytics and BI

Users Love Self-Serve BI and Cross-Tab Analytics!

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October 11, 2022

Ensure Business Users Will Adopt BI Tools with Self-Serve BI and Cross-Tab Analytics!

Gartner has predicted that, ‘90% of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset and analytics as an essential competency.’ Establishing the strategy is one thing, but getting business users to adopt an analytics and information-based business workflow is quite another.

‘Modern business intelligence tools that are designed with self-serve features makes it easy enough for every user (no matter their technical skill) to leverage analytics to report, share and collaborate.’

When it comes to teams, there are two things that are always true: 1) they learn a process and workflow and rarely want to change that familiar process and 2) they are always suspicious of ‘new’ initiatives and nearly always believe that these new initiatives will result in more work for them. There is a reason your team resists new processes and initiatives and that reason is simple. Usually, their fears are warranted!

So, if you want to engender support for new analytics initiatives and engage a business community in fact-based, action-oriented initiatives, you need to plan this new initiative with your users in mind.

In this article, we focus on two of the primary components of a new business user analytics initiative.

Enable User Adoption with Self-Serve BI and Cross-Tab Analytics

Self-Serve BI Tools

Modern business intelligence tools that are designed with self-serve features like smart data visualization, self-serve data preparation and assisted predictive modeling make it easy enough for every user (no matter their technical skill) to leverage analytics to report, share and collaborate. By adding value to the user’s everyday tasks and reducing the rework and issues they will confront, you can encourage your users to adopt analytics initiatives.

  • Any promotion of analytics strategy must clearly illustrate business use cases and benefits of these tools.
  • Support a more productive, streamlined environment that will allow them to do more with less and get the job done quickly.
  • Ensure that business users can collaborate and share and grow their own expertise and visibility.
  • Provide measurable results and information to make recommendations and support those recommendations.

Cross-Tab Analytics Capabilities

Those self-serve tools should include reporting and graphical tools that are clear and concise. Business users don’t want tools that produce complex reports filled with columns and mind-numbing numbers that do not help them reach a decision or illustrate an issue. Cross-tab analytics have been around for some time but the new, improved versions of this capability provides real insight into data in a way that is clear for every user. Sophisticated functionality is underpinned with easy-to-use tools so users can analyze the relationship between or among two or more variables and summarize data in rows and columns making it easy to understand the relationships and intersection of the various types of data. Understanding relationships in data is crucial to identifying the root cause of a problem or to targeting an issue or identifying a business opportunity. Your team members can work with multi-dimensional data and perform ad-hoc queries to gain a clear view of performance, dive into your data, and find and understand the data they need quickly and intuitively. Cross-tab analysis simplifies complex data operations, summary operations, time series functions, filters and custom column expressions and enables business users with simple tools they can really use.

‘If you want to engender support for new analytics initiatives and engage a business community in fact-based, action-oriented initiatives, you need to plan this new initiative with your users in mind.’

Business Intelligence tools can improve your business results. If your business understands the challenges of implementing a business intelligence solution and adequately plans for implementation and user adoption, it can leverage the benefits of these tools and solutions and ensure success. Let us help you achieve your vision and improve productivity and insight across the organization.

Original Post : Enable User Adoption with Self-Serve BI and Cross-Tab Analytics!

Can Democratizing BI Use Help My Team?

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September 7, 2022

Why is Business Intelligence Democratization Important for My Business?

Gartner research reveals that, ‘80% of organizations seeking to scale digital business will fail because they do not take a modern approach to data and analytics governance.’

If you are considering democratizing business intelligence gathering and analytics, you are not alone! Businesses today face more competition from local and global markets and every team member must work quickly and accurately in support of goals and objectives if the enterprise is to achieve its goals.

‘When senior executives and managers have reliable information and dependable recommendations and suggestions, they can improve performance and accuracy in forecasting, planning and demand.’

In this article, we discuss a few of the reasons a business should consider democratizing business intelligence and analytics within its team and how this type of initiative can be implemented to help your enterprise succeed.

Should I Democratize Business Intelligence in My Business?

Working Smarter

When you provide BI tools to your business users, you democratize data and begin to build a better understanding of the root cause of problems, the opportunities the business can leverage and the way forward to solving problems and creating business success. Team members can work smarter, with quick, concise access, and insight into data via self-serve solutions that streamline and simplify the typically complex analytical process and allow every team member to perform the analysis and, more importantly, to understand what the results are telling them.

Focusing on Core Responsibilities

When you democratize business intelligence and analytics with augmented analytics tools, IT team members, data scientists and business analysts can focus on strategic goals and on initiatives where data must be 100% accurate. Team members can use BI tools on a daily basis to test theories and gather and analyze information to support activities and tasks, collaborate with others and move forward, so EVERYONE can focus on their own roles and core responsibilities.

Supporting the Greater Good

When senior executives and managers have reliable information and dependable recommendations and suggestions, they can improve performance and accuracy in forecasting, planning and demand. Team leaders, business unit managers and others can realize long-term benefits and count on the fact that all team members are working with the right information, that information and analysis is based on current, integrated data and on measurable results. The organization can shift to a results-based environment where problems are analyzed and resolved and opportunities are leveraged to the greatest extent possible, so the enterprise can create an environment of continuous improvement.

Creating a Common Language

When all team members are using business intelligence to test theories and hypothesize, to solve problems and get to the root of a problem, to identify those all-important ‘nuggets’ of information that make a competitive difference, managers and executives can feel confident that the team is speaking a common language and that every team members knows how to find a problem, how to explain that problem and how to dependable recommendations to solve that problem.

‘Businesses should consider democratizing business intelligence and analytics within teams to help the enterprise succeed.’

Business Intelligence tools can support data democratization and improve your business results. If your business understands the challenges of implementing a business intelligence solution and adequately plans for implementation and user adoption, it can leverage the benefits of these tools and solutions and ensure success. Let us help you achieve your vision and improve productivity and insight across the organization.

Original Post : Should I Democratize Business Intelligence in My Business?

BI Tools Provide Benefits and Challenges!

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August 3, 2022

Understand the Benefits and the Challenges of a Business Intelligence Strategy!

If you follow industry and business publications, you know that analytics are taking the lead in business strategy. Gartner states that, ‘90% of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset and analytics as an essential competency.’ If your enterprise is implementing a business intelligence and analytics strategy, it is important to plan carefully and to understand the real benefits as well as the challenges of choosing the right BI tools and deploying these tools to users in a way that will ensure optimal user adoption and leverage of analytics to achieve the results you need.

‘Your business should carefully assess requirements and plan for expected user adoption by selecting a BI tool that will offer the features, ease-of-use and functionality your team members need.’

In this article, we provide examples of the various benefits of BI tools for specific business functions and some of the technology and user challenges you will face as you consider your options and plan for implementation.

Address the Challenges and Achieve the Benefits of BI Tools

No matter the business function, there are benefits to implementing a business intelligence strategy that will deploy these tools to your team members. Here are some examples:

Benefits

Finance – Your organization will be more efficient and profitable, with Ready-to-Use Dashboards, Analysis, and KPIs designed especially for the Finance domain. This business intelligence solution includes interactive Dashboards that allow users to perform intuitive, easy analysis of key metrics including Profitability, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payables, Cash Flow Analysis, Past Due Invoices, Balance Sheets, Income Statements and more!

Inventory – Inventory business function allows users to accurately plan and optimize inventory. Interactive Dashboards track item movement, compare sales to closing stock, and monitor warehouse stock and value, and answer critical questions regarding stock turnover ratio, seasonal buying, back-order assessment and safety stock to prevent lost sales. Users can analyze inventory levels to effectively manage stock based on the buying behavior of customers.

Purchasing and Procurement – Allows users to view and analyze spending details, analyze procurement data, drill through data to analyze issues, measure performance, identify savings opportunities, and track supplier performance. Identify reliable trading partners, analyze supplier cost, perform purchase rate comparisons, reveal trends, identify top/bottom vendors, and achieve timely insight into spending patterns and trends across all departments.

Production – Quantify and visualize data at the operational level to make fact-based decisions. Analyze Output, Reduce Labor Costs, Maintain Inventory Levels, Optimize Equipment Performance, Monitor Rejection Ratios and Downtime, and take action before problems arise to mitigate risk, and capitalize on opportunities. Publish automated reports to monitor and manage plant performance and provide management with quality metrics and relevant data.

These are just a few examples of how business intelligence can be used within a business function, department or business unit to benefit business users and to help the organization make fact-based decisions, spot trends and patterns and opportunities, and identify the root cause of problems.

If you want to take advantage of all of these benefits and ensure success of your business intelligence initiative, your business should carefully assess requirements and plan for expected user adoption by selecting a BI tool that will offer the features, ease-of-use and functionality your team members need.

Technology and User Challenges

Social BI

Your team members are also consumers and outside of the office they are used to a collaborate and social experience. By engaging in Social BI, your team can champion data sharing, collaborate on creative ways to analyze data and make quick work of data analytics, with tools that allow the user to ‘like’, ‘share’ and leverage other social tools and networking techniques.

Mobile BI

Not every BI tool provides real mobile business intelligence to accommodate every type of device, screen size and resolution. Choose a solution that has a Responsive and Adaptive UI engine, so you can roll out BI tools on any Desktop, Tablet or Smartphone without any device specific development. ‘Design once, Use anywhere’ concept in true sense.

Personalized Dashboards

Business users will not adopt a solution that limits them to predefined dashboards. Each user has a need to see and use data in a different way. Be sure to select a solution that allows your users to work in a way that is meaningful to them.

Interactive, NOT Restrictive

Choose a solution that will allow users to leverage deep dive analytics. There is no way an organization can anticipate every question or type of analytics a business user will need to incorporate into decision-making. Provide truly interactive tools that will assure user adoption and make your organization more agile.

Ease-of-Use

Advanced Data Discovery allows business users to perform early prototyping and to test hypothesis without the skills of a data scientist. Advanced Data Discovery ensures data democratization with Self-Serve Data Preparation, Smart Data Visualization and Plug n’ Play Predictive analysis that can drastically reduce the time and cost of analysis and experimentation.

‘No matter the business function, there are benefits to implementing a business intelligence strategy that will deploy these tools to your team members.’

Ready-To-Use Business Intelligence tools can support data democratization and improve your business results. If your business understands the challenges of implementing a business intelligence solution and adequately plans for implementation and user adoption, it can leverage the benefits of these tools and solutions and ensure success. Let us help you achieve your vision and improve productivity and insight across the organization.

Original Post : Address the Challenges and Achieve the Benefits of BI Tools!

Prepare for Success with the Right BI Tools!

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May 10, 2022

4 Things to Know to Prepare for BI Tools and Data Democratization!

The days of data silos and exclusive data access are over. Data Scientists and business analysts are still an important component of the business and IT teams are still crucial to the success and stability of the organization BUT if you are thinking that these roles are still responsible for day-to-day analytics and delivering every bit of data analysis to the enterprise, your business strategy needs an upgrade!

Continue reading “Prepare for Success with the Right BI Tools!”

Leverage Key Performance Indicators to Achieve Results!

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April 12, 2022

Key Performance Indicators and Performance Management are Crucial to Business Agility!

When a business takes on the task of going from an opinion-based, guessing game environment to a metrics-based, fact-based environment, it must decide WHAT to measure. Metrics are fine, but deciding what is important to measure is crucial. You can measure the wrong things and end up knowing nothing about what is happening in your enterprise, and which tasks and activities are contributing to your bottom line, as opposed to the tasks that are non-productive and business processes that should be modified.

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Include Mobile BI in Your Augmented Analytics Requirements!

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March 28, 2022

What Are the Advantages of Mobile BI and Augmented Analytics?

A recent report revealed that by, 2028, the Augmented Analytics market is projected to reach USD 46.26 billion at a CAGR of 24.30%. The business intelligence solution market has evolved into augmented analytics and these solutions designs have progressed to support average business users with simple solutions that combine sophisticated analytical techniques and algorithms with easy navigation, reporting and insight.

Continue reading “Include Mobile BI in Your Augmented Analytics Requirements!”

Self-Serve BI and Augmented Analytics Has Many Rewards!

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March 22, 2022

Address the Challenges and Enjoy the Benefits of Self-Serve BI Tools!

If you are a business manager, senior executive, IT professional or analytical professional, you are probably well aware of the emergence of business intelligence solutions, BI tools and augmented analytics for business users. In all likelihood, you have been hearing about these trends in annual conference and industry journals. If your business has not yet adopted such an initiative, it is likely to do so within the next year. But it might surprise you to know that, world renowned technology research firm, Gartner, predicts that ‘By 2022, augmented analytics will be ubiquitous, but only 10% of users will use it to its full potential.’ Given the focus and effort invested in business intelligence and augmented analytics, this prediction is disappointing, but understandable.

Continue reading “Self-Serve BI and Augmented Analytics Has Many Rewards!”

Include Embedded BI into Your Business Applications!

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March 17, 2022

A recent survey found that 93% of application teams report improvement in user experience as a result of embedded analytics, and 94% of teams report improved customer satisfaction with embedded analytics. The concept of embedded BI is simple. By leveraging APIs, the augmented analytics solution is embedded within familiar enterprise apps and made available to users via single sign-on so that the user can access  favorite software solutions and applications to perform tasks and use the data contained there to analyze data and make decisions.

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Mobile BI Improves User Adoption and ROI!

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February 15, 2022

Here’s How Mobile BI Encourages User Adoption and TCO!

Businesses that invest in business intelligence solutions expect to achieve results, become more competitive and improve productivity, but these businesses often fail to understand the need for Mobile BI. Mobile business intelligence should provide all the features and search capability a user needs to perform tasks and get information while on the road, working remotely or visiting a client, partner or regional office.

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Traditional & Modern BI and Analytics: A Perfect Combination Solutions!

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February 14, 2022

Combine Traditional BI with Modern BI and Analytics to Improve User Adoption and Gain Advantage!

The world-renowned technology research firm, Gartner, predicts that, ‘through 2024, 50% of organizations will adopt modern data quality solutions to better support their digital business initiatives’. As businesses consider the options for data analytics, it is important to understand the impact of solution selection.

Continue reading “Traditional & Modern BI and Analytics: A Perfect Combination Solutions!”