According to a survey of businesses regarding Digital Transformation (Dx), 40% of respondents reported improved operational efficiency, 35% reported that it was easier to meet changing customer expectations, 26% said Dx improved product quality, and 24% said Dx reduced product development costs.
When it comes to implementing a Digital Transformation (Dx) initiative, your IT team and senior executives probably don’t need convincing! Consider the recent IDC survey results about Dx:
When a business makes the decision to take on a Digital Transformation (Dx) initiative, there is a lot of planning involved. The enterprise cannot simply declare its intention and leave the rest to fate. It must plan carefully and include all crucial components if it hopes to succeed and to launch this initiative in a timely manner.
The term ‘Digital Transformation, or Dx, is everywhere today. If you have heard the term, but you’re not clear on its meaning, Digital transformation is a business initiative that adopts a customer focus by taking a digital or technology-driven approach to business. This approach includes business processes, software and solutions used to create concepts or products, complete tasks, work through approvals, manage projects, monitor, and manage suppliers, equipment, teams, etc. In short, every aspect of the business from business structure and models to customer interaction and operations. Digital Transformation technologies may include artificial intelligence (AI), ERP systems and solutions, private or public cloud environs, and digital solutions for augmented analytics, BI tools, workflow management, HR, product design, etc.
In recent studies, 49% of the organizations surveyed about Digital Transformation (Dx) initiatives reported that Dx gave the business the ability to better manage business performance through data availability. When it comes to Digital Transformation strategies, the wise enterprise knows to involve its team members in the requirements planning and in planning for execution and transition.
According to an Accenture study, ‘30% of companies are still considered laggards in technology adoption and innovation.’ Hopefully, your organization is not among those laggard companies! Digital Transformation (Dx) is important for many reasons, not the least of which is competitive positioning. If your business is not actively working on improving its digital response, work processes, approval procedures and customer interaction, you are already behind the competition!
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.
Original Post : Data Democratization Can Succeed with the Right BI Tools!
Deloitte reports that ‘The implementation of digital technologies can help accelerate progress towards enterprise goals such as financial returns, workforce diversity, and environmental targets by 22%.’
In assessing the enterprise landscape and planning for a Digital Transformation (Dx) transition project, every organization will certainly focus on technology and infrastructure. Technology is, after all, inherent in the very nature of a Dx discussion. Infuture Institute recently published a study that describes the critical factors in a Digital Transformation (Dx), and one of the most provocative insights states that, ‘What we need is…the change of attitude in the approach to digital transformation – from a technological approach to the humanistic approach (human over technology, not technology over human), i.e., focus on the employees within the organization and the needs and expectations of customers and consumers.’
By its nature, Digital Transformation (Dx) relies on new and reimagined technology approaches and solutions with a goal of modifying and optimizing products, services and business processes. Among the digital strategies in place in businesses, is the addition of tools and technology for artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing.
