The Client is the largest global manufacturer of Air Coolers. The Client is an India-based Multi-National Company with a presence in over sixty (60) countries. As the market leader, this enterprise enjoys a prime position in the residential, industrial and commercial market segments and its brand is considered synonymous with cooling products in the global market. The Client is a market disrupter in what is a diverse and poorly organized sector and it has set the market benchmark with 201 trademarks, 64 registered designs, 15 copyrights and 48 patents, thereby setting the gold standard for air cooling in the global market.
Select the Right BI Tools and Succeed with Data Democratization!
Do you know what Data Democratization is? It’s simple, really. Data Democratization is the purposeful approach to cascading and integrating data into the daily workflow of business users to provide access to crucial information and the tools to analyze and understand that data and use it to make confident decisions. Instead of holding data in silos that are only accessible to IT, business analysts, data scientists and management, the enterprise recognizes the value of providing team members with the right information to do their job and contribute to the bottom line.
‘To succeed in data democratization, you need BI tools that provide data analytics access for all business users.’
Gartner predicts that, ‘75% of organizations will…deploy…multiple data hubs to drive mission-critical data and analytics sharing and governance.’ The key here is the ‘analytics sharing’ piece of the statement!
In order to fulfill the promise of this approach, your enterprise must employ business intelligence solutions that are easy-to-use and designed for business users, without advanced technical skills or advanced analytical skills. These tools allow your team members to engage in analytics and enjoy data democratization without the frustration of leveraging solutions designed for data scientists or IT staff.
Here are a few considerations to give you an idea of the kinds of things you will need to support your data democratization initiative. These factors are crucial to success, as they ensure that your users can and will adopt the BI tools you select to enjoy the new data access you have given them. Without these, you run the risk of spending the time and money to provide access and achieving poor return on investment (ROI) because of poor user adoption.
Embedded BI – By embedding business intelligence into the enterprise apps your users love, you can encourage data democratization and analytics in a single sign-on environment. Users do not have to sign in to multiple systems or move data around. They can start with the data within the ERP, HR, Finance or other system and perform analysis from within that system. Make it as easy as you can, and users will be happy!
Mobile BI – Don’t make your users sit at their desk in an office to use the BI tools. Make these tools accessible from the office and on the road, at home and in a client location or hotel. If you want your users to see the value in data democratization and you want to achieve your goals for this initiative, you must give your users the tools they need WHEN THEY NEED those tools.
Business Intelligence with Seamless User Access and Security – Data democratization does NOT mean throwing caution to the wind. Data must still be secured and accessible to users for the things they need to see, but not for the things they are not eligible to see and not in an environment where data security and privacy are at risk. To democratize your data, you must also ensure data governance, security and access standards and requirements are met.
Natural Language Processing – Make the augmented analytics and BI tools intuitive. Democratized data is no good if the users need an advanced degree to access the data. Natural Language Processing (NLP) allows your users to access data in a familiar way, with a Google-type search interface where they can ask questions using regular language and receive answers in a way that is easy to understand. If they can search, query and find information easily, they are more likely to a) use the system and b) understand the information they produce and make the right decisions.
Tools Designed Specifically for Business Users – The solution you select should be designed for business users, not for data scientists, business analysts, IT or statisticians. While you want the data democratization initiative to expand the skills and knowledge of your team, you do not want them to need advanced skills or training. Select a system that can be adopted and used within minutes – not months. Users want sophisticated functionality in an easy-to-use environment. That is important!
‘If you want your data democratization initiative to succeed, select tools that allow your team members to engage in analytics without the frustration of leveraging solutions designed for data scientists or IT staff.’
There are other considerations but, if you address the ones we have highlighted in this article, you will be well on your way to achieving your data democratization goals and ensuring that your users adopt the solution you select.
BI Tools should provide data analytics access for all business users. Simple, Self-Serve BI Tools can provide your business with the foundation to achieve your data democratization and user adoption goals. Let us help you achieve your vision and improve productivity and insight across the organization.
Don’t Be Daunted by the Challenges of BI Tools. Self-Serve BI is the Answer!
Gartner research reveals that, ‘90% of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset and analytics as an essential competency.’ As business professionals, we all know that information is power and today, your business users are expected to know more and to keep pace with industry, market and customer changes that will negatively impact the business or have provide potential opportunities. But how do your team members achieve these goals when they are busier than ever, and the changes are coming more rapidly than ever!
‘Simple, self-serve BI tools can provide your business with the foundation to achieve your goals with features and tools like Social BI, Mobile BI, Embedded BI, etc.’
In this article, we will discuss the topic of modern business intelligence tools and solutions and the advantages of providing self-serve tools to your users for day-to-day analysis and intelligence gathering.
First, let’s look at some of the challenges you will need to consider when implementing self-serve BI tools:
Challenges of Self-Serve BI
Technology Access and Infrastructure Readiness – Your IT, finance and management teams will need a comprehensive understanding of your current technology and infrastructure, the data hubs, data warehouses and software solutions (legacy, best-of-breed, ERP, etc.) that will provide the foundational data for your users. You will need a plan and a roadmap to integrate these into your business intelligence strategy. A modern, seamless BI solution can provide a simple solution for what might otherwise be a challenging situation. If you can easily integrate your data sources and make them available for data gathering and analytics, your users can leverage the data to report, share and collaborate.
Team Member Adoption and Understanding – Your team will also need an understanding of the average technology skills of your business users and their willingness to adopt new tools and solutions. If your team members perceive that your BI tools are difficult to use, or if they are not educated on the need for and the benefits of self-serve business intelligence, they are unlikely to adopt the new tools. If, on the other hand, they see the value to their role and how it can make them more productive and streamline their work process; if they see that the solution is easy and intuitive to use, your business is less likely to face the challenges of team reluctance.
There are many other challenges and considerations that should inform your BI tools strategy, but these two are perhaps the most important.
Now, let’s consider some of the many benefits of self-serve business intelligence and how it can support your goals and simplify the lives of your business users:
Benefits of Self-Serve BI
Social BI – Social BI allows users to champion the use of business intelligence. Power users and those who are curious by nature will create reports, share and collaborate, using easy-to-use tools and thereby encourage others to use the tools and to repurpose report formats etc. to achieve their own goals. Social BI allows business users to share, ‘like’ and perform tasks in a way that is similar to social networking and is therefore popular among business users.
Mobile BI – Today’s team members often work remotely, or spend a lot of time on the road. By providing self-serve business intelligence that is intuitive to use and accessible on Android and iOS devices, the business can ensure that users will have seamless access and can accomplish tasks, search for information, share and collaborate, without missing a beat!
Data Democratization and Data Literacy – If you want your team members to grow and add more value, you want to encourage data literacy and ensure data democratization. Move away from restricted data access and sole ownership of analytics by data scientists, IT and business analysts. Provide easy-to-use tools that allow for simple search analytics in a Google-type environment and will make it easier for reluctant business users to embrace your new BI solution and develop new data analytics skills they can use for fact-based decisions.
User Adoption – There is nothing more frustrating than spending the time and money to implement a new solution, only to find that your users are resistant to using that solution. With true self-serve BI tools and intuitive data visualization, reporting, analytics and access, users will want to adopt the tools and share their discoveries with other team members.
Embedded BI – If you want to leverage existing technology, improve your Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for your current solutions and infrastructure, consider that self-serve BI tools can be embedded into existing solutions. With embedded BI with Integration APIs, users can leverage familiar, favorite software solutions in a single sign-on environment, and find information within those solutions without having to learn complicated new techniques or fighting with data silos and transferring data from one place to another.
There are many other advantages to Self-Serve Business Intelligence. This short list should give you some ideas of how you can leverage these tools in your own business landscape.
‘As business professionals, we all know that information is power and today, your business users are expected to know more and to keep pace with industry, market and customer changes that will negatively impact the business or have provide potential opportunities.’
Business Intelligence solutions should include tools and techniques that make it easier to achieve data literacy and provide data analytics access to all business users. Simple, self-serve BI tools can provide your business with the foundation to achieve your goals with features and tools like Social BI, Mobile BI, Embedded BI, etc. Let us help you achieve your vision and improve productivity and insight across the organization.
Smarten is pleased to announce the launch of its Mobile Application for Smarten Augmented Analytics. This native app has a seamless user interface for a great user experience (UX). Smarten Mobile app is available for iOS and Android. Installation is easy.
Considering a Mobile BI App? Understand the WHAT of Mobile Augmented Analytics Before You Choose!
If your business is considering a Business Intelligence or BI tool or an augmented analytics tool for its business users, the addition of this type of tool can and will improve user adoption of analytics, data democratization and data literacy. As you consider your requirements, your user and technology needs and other factors, do not forget to add mobile BI tools and augmented analytics to your list of requirements. A BI Mobile App will further improve user adoption and fact-based decisions.
By some estimates the Mobile Business Intelligence Market is expected to achieve a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.43%
‘If a vendor or solution provides only SOME of the features and functionality business users require, the solution cannot truly be considered a Mobile BI app.’
In this article, we define Mobile BI and the concept of a Mobile Augmented Analytics App, so that your business can achieve a more complete picture of these tools.
Perhaps the best place to start this discussion is to define what Mobile BI is NOT.
What Mobile BI and Mobile Analytics is NOT
A true Mobile BI and Augmented Analytics App should not be restrictive. Limited views and access will only frustrate users.
Real Mobile BI is not just a series of static reports or limited access to data that would otherwise be available from within the walls of the enterprise.
What IS Mobile BI and Augmented Analytics?
Mobile Augmented Analytics is based on a comprehensive advanced analytics solution with sophisticated features, analytical algorithms and functionality designed for business users with average technical skills.
Mobile BI is designed to extend the augmented analytics environment beyond the walls of the enterprise and support remote work, team members who travel and those who wish to work while on the road.
A Mobile BI and Augmented Analytics App accommodates both Android and iOS devices so that users can access features, reporting, data sharing etc., on the device of their choice.
Mobile BI for Business Users is easy to implement and license and does not require extensive training.
Mobile Augmented Analytics provides a functional environment for analytics, extending the features the user leverages within the office on a desktop so that the user can analyze data with full access into datasets, dashboards and reports.
Mobile BI apps must present data appropriately, no matter the size of the screen or the resolution. Navigation must be easy and intuitive.
If a vendor or solution provides only SOME of the features and functionality business users require, the solution cannot truly be considered a Mobile BI app. Implementing data democracy initiatives to support the transition from business user to Citizen Data Scientist requires tools that can be used in a real work environment and that must include true mobile access to a comprehensive set of features.
Remember, your team members are also consumers who are used to access to all their favorite apps no matter where they are, and no matter which type of device they choose to use.
‘A BI Mobile App will further improve user adoption and fact-based decisions.’
The Citizen Data Scientist Role and Benefits and How to Get Started!
Gartner has predicted that, ‘90% the world’s top 500 companies will have converged analytics governance into broader data and analytics governance initiatives.’ If you wish to compete, your business will want to follow the lead of these top companies. By incorporating analytics into day-to-day activities and allowing access for business users, the business can encourage the transition from business user to Citizen Data Scientist and create a comprehensive system of analytics with governance and collaboration to ensure security, appropriate access, mobile use and fact-based decision-making.
‘The path to Citizen Data Scientist does not have to be fraught with uncertainty.’
If you are a team member in a business environment, your role within that business is unique. But, it doesn’t matter what your role is or what your responsibilities are, it doesn’t matter what tasks or activities you must perform, you need good, solid data to make effective, fact-based decisions. And, your decisions must be swift because business is moving at the speed of light! Add to this the fact that your responsibilities seem to grow in scope and depth every day, and you can see how crucial it is to have the right support and solutions to help you achieve your goals.
If you are considering a transition to Citizen Data Scientist, or your business management team has informed you of their intent to make that transition, you probably have a lot of questions about the process and the role.
What is a Citizen Data Scientist?
Citizen Data Scientists are not business analysts or data scientists. They are business users and team members within the organization. The typical profile of an ideal Citizen Data Scientist is a person who is respected within the organization, and often shares data and information with other users to collaborate and produce outcomes that are designed to achieve goals and objectives and produce a successful outcome. These individuals may already be ‘power users’ of business applications and may have developed and reported or presented data to others with an eye toward clarifying their decision-making. Citizen Data Scientist candidates may also be IT team members who are interested in data science. In any case, these candidates will typically be uniquely curious, interested in data analytics and devoted to fact-based decisions and team collaboration. To fulfill the role of Citizen Data Scientists, business users will leverage augmented analytics solutions; that is analytics that provide simple recommendations and suggestions to help users easily choose visualization and predictive analytics techniques from within the analytical tool without the need for expert analytical skills.
Why is it important to implement a Citizen Data Scientist Program?
Business users can leverage domain and primary skills and expertise to gain insight into results using augmented analytics. Your team can interact with and collaborate with IT and data scientists to define business use cases and refine outcomes, and users are empowered to use analytical tools to hypothesize, prototype, forecast and predict, so the organization can identify issues, challenges and results prior to implementing changes in pricing, products, customer outreach, organizational structure, and all manner of operational decisions. The Citizen Data Scientist initiative will improve the accuracy of decisions, and allow users to share data and models with other users, thereby adding value to the organization. The enterprise can create and manage goals and objectives using measurable data and can improve time to market and make better decisions. The Citizen Data Scientist approach is crucial to sustained competitive advantage and to nurturing human resource assets, improving productivity and making the right decisions at the right time. Businesses and users can get ahead of the curve in the market and enable true collaboration.
‘The business can encourage the transition from business user to Citizen Data Scientist and create a comprehensive system of analytics.’
When a business makes the decision to implement a Citizen Data Scientist initiative, it must have a clear vision of the path to get business users to a new role, and to support those users with the augmented analytics tools and cultural changes required to encourage user adoption of analytics solutions and techniques. The path to Citizen Data Scientist does not have to be fraught with uncertainty. With the right cultural changes and management and technology support, the team can improve data literacy and encourage data democratization. Training is a key component of this success. But it needn’t be a lengthy, complex process.
An in-person or online training program that introduces the role and provides examples of Use Cases and Case Studies can help business users see how these tools might be used within the confines of their own role in the organization.
We all know the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ When it comes to business problems, opportunities and reporting, images and pictures can tell a story that dry data cannot match.
As your business moves toward metrics and measurable results and embraces analytics, it is likely to consider the implementation of augmented analytics across the enterprise.
‘The real beauty of Smart Data Visualization is that it is built within an Augmented Analytics environment that is designed for the average business user without advanced technical skills.’
Gartner predicted that, ‘augmented analytics will be a dominant driver of new purchases of analytics and BI as well as data science and machine learning platforms, and of embedded analytics.’ The decision to invest in augmented analytics and in data democratization means that your business users will need tools that are easy-to-use and provide sophisticated functionality. And, when it comes to the presentation of data, users will want new and improved ways to tell the story. Whether you are presenting in a staff meeting, sharing data and reports across teams or talking through a problem, smart data visualization is going to help you make a better decision, because it provides a clear picture of results and ensures that data is not misunderstood or misinterpreted.
In this article, we explore Smart Data Visualization and the concept of a ‘picture is worth a thousand words’ to discover how data visualization can make a real difference in your analytical environment and in supporting decisions.
What is Smart Data Visualization?
Once a user has gathered the data they wish to analyze, Smart Data Visualization uses auto-suggestions and recommendations to help you choose the right way to visualize your data and produce reports based on data type, data volume the nature of the data, the patterns and the dimensions. Smart Data Visualization and Visual Analytics allows business users to analyze, share and present information without waiting for assistance from visualization experts or programmers. With augmented data discovery tools, business users can cut through that mountain of data to find those elusive nuggets of information that have the most impact on business results.
How Does Smart Data Visualization Work?
By combining cutting-edge technology and machine learning on the backend, with an intuitive user experience on the front end, business users can easily leverage sophisticated tools with suggestions and recommendations on how to personalize data displays to create meaningful views and collaboration. Machine learning provides guidance to determine the visualization technique that will be the best fit for the data business users want to analyze. It allows for better understanding of data, and identifies unusual patterns in data, and achieves the best output and results.
What Can My Business Do with Smart Data Visualization?
Visual Analytics tools enable users to identify relationships, patterns, trends and opportunities and to explore detailed data with simple drill down and drill through capabilities and make sense of data from all sources, with a guided approach that allows users to identify patterns and trends, and quickly complete analysis with clear results.
The real beauty of Smart Data Visualization is that it is built within an Augmented Analytics environment that is designed for the average business user without advanced technical skills. Users can leverage sophisticated features to get that one picture that will tell the story – all without involving IT or data scientists, so the day-to-day work of decision-making can go forward with confidence and accuracy.
‘Smart data visualization is going to help you make a better decision, because it provides a clear picture of results and ensures that data is not misunderstood or misinterpreted.’
How Should My Citizen Data Scientists Work with Data Scientists and Analysts?
Gartner has predicted that, ‘30% of organizations will harness the collective intelligence of their analytics communities, outperforming competitors that rely solely on centralized analytics or self-service.’ What does this mean for business Citizen Data Scientist initiatives? It does NOT mean that the organization should turn away from this type of initiative. What it DOES mean is that a business should recognize the value and purpose of each aspect of its analytical community.
Smarten announces the recent certification of its Smarten Augmented Analytics Software product by CERT-IN. CERT-IN, or the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, is an India government-approved organization for upholding information technology (IT) security, and is a well-renowned application security standard, respected within the technology community. It was initiated in 2004 by the Department of Information Technology for implementing the provisions of the 2008 Information Technology Amendment Act. CERT-IN certification is provided by a CERT Empaneled Security Auditor following a detailed security audit to review all components of the organization network including websites, systems, applications, etc. After completion of the testing procedure, the certificate is provided to show that all requirements were met.
Think of What Citizen Data Scientists Can Do to Help Your Business!
Whether you have recently been nominated to become a Citizen Data Scientist or you are considering the value of this type of transition for your business, managers and team members alike often ask exactly what a Citizen Data Scientist can do. According to technology research firm, Gartner, the number of Citizen Data Scientists will grow at five times the rate of traditional data scientists. If that’s the case, there must be something to this trend, right?
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