Business intelligence tools aren’t new. Their capabilities and uses, however, are in a constant state of change. BI technologies are some of the most important assets of enterprises today.
With that thought, here are some ideas for getting the most out of BI technologies.
Democratize Data
There are many ways enterprises can strive to get the most out of their BI technology. The democratization of data is one of the top use cases for this. At its most basic level, data democratization is the process of transforming the way data-based decisions are made from being top-down to peer-to-peer. In the old way of using BI tools, “regular” employees needed to send requests to the data team every time they wanted someone to run a query. With data democratization, most workers can do many lower-level data functions for themselves.
There are a few distinct benefits to democratizing the use of data on BI tools. First, this can save your organization and your employees tons of time and resources. Your specialized data workers get bogged down when they have to approve every data analysis. By freeing them from this, they can spend more time and energy working on higher-level data problems.
Additionally, data democratization vastly decreases the time it takes to reach an actionable decision. By empowering more employees with BI tools, they can find insights on their own and apply them to projects without having to wait around for approval. Implementing this process across a range of cases can exponentially improve operating efficiency.
Use Embedded Analytics
Embedded analytics is another way enterprises can extract more value from BI technology. Essentially, embedded analytics is when you take a visualization or some kind of readout, and strategically place it within an employee’s workflow. There are many instances where this application can come in handy.
For example, you don’t necessarily want to be switching back and forth between your BI tools and other apps and programs when working on something. Embedding the important analytics capabilities into the other platform can save workers time, while reducing the chances for errors.
Go Beyond Quarterly Reporting
Another way to get the most out of BI technologies is expanding the role reporting plays within your organization. Of course, quarterly, monthly, and annual reports are going to remain a crucial part of your business. But these should be the baseline expectation going forward.
With modern BI tools, reporting becomes much easier and can be used in more ways. Real-time analytics allows for enterprises to find value in reporting at any time. Using up-to-the-minute reports for internal or external presentations is another way to get more value from BI.
Find Value in Unstructured Data
Look for platforms that find useful ways to bring unstructured data into the fray. For a long time, organizations have been using structured data sets to make better business decisions. However, a report from Forrester showed up to 73 percent of enterprise data wasn’t being used for anything.
This might sound outrageous considering how much focus is put on data these days, but it can be tough to make something out of unstructured data. Artificial intelligence technology solves that by helping organizations extract more value from data than ever before.
Create a Data Culture
It’s one thing to say something, but another to do it. This is sort of the difference between talking about data at your company versus fostering a data culture. When data becomes part of your organizational DNA, it’s the first place you turn when making decisions. Permeating this concept throughout an organization can lead to some stark benefits, such as greater efficiency across the board. Your business will get far more from its BI technology if it’s operating within a data-driven culture.
BI technologies are essential for organizations trying to succeed in today’s economy. But simply having the tools isn’t enough. You have to learn how to use them, while creating an environment in which more employees want to use them, in order to get the most value.
can we make a more dramatic difference between the BI tools built around visualization and reporting, and those built around self service and infused with AI? I want to set up the category differentiation earlier
can we swap this to incorporate AI? your BI should use AI to surface insights you didn’t know to look for – and in doing so, help orgs avoid pitfalls & tap unknown opportunity