Future-proof data processes in your organization with next-generation business intelligence solutions.
~8 minute read
Business intelligence is an essential part of running a scalable organization. Without data, teams don’t have visibility into key trends they could capitalize on, and they can’t spot roadblocks before they become setbacks. At any stage of building a company, understanding what’s going on in the business is critical for growth.
The best BI tools enable teams to see their business clearly through their data. In today’s leading businesses, everyone needs to make decisions that drive the business forward. What’s the best way to make great decisions? Consult the data.
Maximum efficiency happens when all team members are empowered to harness the insights they find through their business intelligence tools. Self-serve data access enables everyone to get the data they need to do their jobs effectively. Advancements in BI capabilities need to cater to more types of business users, even non-technical team members.
As the demand for data expands in every department, enterprises need to be able to keep up with their teams’ data needs without overburdening the IT department or spending time and resources upskilling their employees in BI technology.
Self-serve BI tools are emerging as key differentiators for businesses that get ahead and stay ahead over time. With intuitive, self-serve data access, anyone in your organization can get the data they need––without the learning curve.
What makes self-serve BI different?
Embedded self-serve BI tools get data to the right people the moment they need it.
Data processes in today’s enterprises are often highly inefficient. When we talk about siloed data, we mostly refer to data that’s stored in disparate databases or software. But data can also be siloed by factors outside the realm of database administration. These could include user skill level and software competence, slow interdepartmental communications, competing priorities within an overburdened technical team, and the user-friendliness of data access technology itself.
Self-serve BI tools take data out of these types of silos by streamlining data access for more types of users.
Another growing challenge that self-serve BI tools solve is context switching and information overload. Context switching is the insidious dark side of digital transformation. While digital tools can help your team complete tasks faster and allow them to work remotely, they can also become distracting, reducing productivity.
Information overload occurs when users have to sift through an entire dashboard library to find insights or engage in lengthy back-and-forth message threads with team members who have access to the database.
Embedded self-serve BI tools streamline the user experience and reduce the need to move between apps or browser tabs. They empower individuals to get the exact data they’re looking for without consulting or obsessively monitoring a dashboard.
You can embed BI capabilities into the proprietary software that your teams’ work revolves around. For example, Chata’s flagship solution, AutoQL, can be embedded, white-labeled, and completely customized to fit into the digital workflows that team members already perform on a regular basis.
With AutoQL, team members can get the data they need just by asking questions and receiving immediate answers. With intuitive tools for data access, you can enable everyone to take advantage of the power of business intelligence to boost growth.
Here are 3 ways that embedded BI tools like AutoQL can help you drive your business forward:
#1 Back your data-driven culture with processes that work
Self-service BI can make it easy to get organization-wide adoption of data-driven decision making. The most powerful way to build and solidify new habits within your team is to create a path of least resistance by setting up an environment where data access is intuitive and fits seamlessly into everyday workflows.
Harvard Business Review notes that data access issues are a major roadblock for companies shifting into data-driven operations. “By far the most common complaint we hear is that people in different parts of a business struggle to obtain even the most basic data.”
Without data, your teams can’t make decisions that have an impact on your business success. The right self-service BI software encourages everyone to engage with data more often by making that data easy to get to, and easy to understand. BI tools with a robust API and embeddable user interface components make it possible to put data access right at your teams’ fingertips.
When data processes are efficient for any member of your team––from the C-suite to the front lines––data-driven decision making can happen every day.
Read more: 5 Ways to Cultivate Data-Driven Culture at Your Company
#2 Bring the power of analytics out of the IT department
With self-service BI, you can eliminate the time-consuming back-and-forth that happens between the technical or data analytics teams and other departments when someone is looking for data. When you’re establishing a data-driven culture, it’s vital to eliminate these types of people and process silos that make information hard to get to.
Data is only as valuable as the outcomes people can achieve when they act on those insights. As your organization builds data literacy across every team, self-serve BI tools can reduce the learning curve associated with onboarding individuals onto new software solutions.
A system like AutoQL makes getting data as easy as asking questions and receiving instant answers, enabling immediate analysis. With an intuitive user interface that anyone can start using in seconds, your entire team can engage with the power of business intelligence without watching tutorial videos, taking intensive (and expensive) training, or leaning on the technical team to troubleshoot “I can’t figure out how this works” scenarios.
BI power users in the IT department can leverage self-serve, too. When it’s easy for them to field ad hoc data requests in seconds rather than hours, days, or even weeks, they can get back to higher-value tasks like running more complex reports that surface even more unique insights and future-proofing technology that scales in the long-term.
Read more: 7 Reasons Data-Driven Businesses Need Conversational AI
#3 Increase alignment & empower every team to act on insights with agility
When teams can consult a single source of truth, everyone is empowered to push the business in the same direction.
Self-service BI makes data instantly accessible and keeps everyone in the loop about what’s happening in the business on an ongoing basis. This leads to shorter and fewer meetings and less time spent getting everyone on the same page about important numbers and metrics.
Faster access to data leads to bottom line-boosting outcomes at every level of the organization.
High-level executives need to make $100,000 decisions in real time with accurate data that points them to the path of highest ROI. Great self-serve BI tools allow key decision makers to act at exactly the right moment with data that’s readily available.
Managers and mid-level executives need to be able to allocate resources effectively. With data easily access through self-serve BI, they can understand their processes to better predict how long projects might take and how to optimize the team to achieve more.
Front line team members and entry-level employees also need data to make those small, everyday decisions that add up to business success. With self-serve BI tools, it’s intuitive for everyone to weave data access into the tasks they already perform.
Learn more: Take the Data Access Assessment Quiz
Leveling-Up Your BI Processes with AutoQL
AutoQL makes business intelligence accessible to users of any level of technical skill. With unparalleled natural language translation capabilities, AutoQL can handle the way anyone, in any business domain, asks questions about their data. Non-technical team members in the warehouse, on the marketing or sales teams, or workers out in the field don’t need to “speak database”: they don’t have to understand how to configure queries in other BI software or learn how to write code.
When everyone can access data like an analyst, better decisions can be made in every department, every day and your business can move forward, faster.
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