Author: Kartik Patel

Minimum Viable Products and Their Value

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November 6, 2024

Minimum Viable Products Provide Metrics for Success

If you aren’t familiar with the term ‘Minimum Viable Product,’ here is a brief definition: A Minimum Viable Product or MVP is a version of a product that provides minimal features – just enough for customers to use and provide feedback on the product. That feedback is then incorporated into the final plan for the product, thereby allowing the creative team or software vendor to ensure user adoption and anticipate features and functionality the customers want now or may want in the future.

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Choose Augmented Analytics Designed for Business Users!

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September 11, 2024

Avoid Complex Analytics Solutions (Your Users Will Hate)

When a business is considering a business intelligence or analytics solution, it is important to recognize that today’s solutions are very different than the solutions of the past. Not only do they include more analytical techniques and features, but they have come a long way in providing access to sophisticated analytics for the average enterprise team member.

Harvard Business Review Analytics Service reports that

a) businesses can substantially improve business performance by giving frontline workers modern self-service analytics tools to enable fast intelligent action and,

b) not all self-service analytics provide this effective approach.

Choose Augmented Analytics Designed for Business Users and Get the Most From Your Solution

The Harvard Business Review Analytics Service surveyed nearly 500 executives and found that they reported significant performance improvement when they empowered frontline workers with augmented analytics. More than one-third of those surveyed noted improvement in customer and employee engagement and in product and service quality.

While some businesses may still be using business intelligence and analytics that are designed for data scientists and IT professionals, most of those are actively working to upgrade and/or migrate to augmented analytics and solutions that are designed for self-serve business user access.

Here’s why:

  • Search-based, self-serve analytics provides swift access to data and familiar natural language processing (NLP) search capability so business users can ask a question, get an answer and drill down to discover the root cause of issues. There is no need for the user to wait for IT or a data scientist to produce a report. They can continue to work on a task or a problem with full insight into results, challenges and possibilities.
  • The enterprise can enable data democratization and data literacy across the business landscape, thereby ensuring that there is a rapid response to market and competitive changes and to changing customer buying behavior.
  • Business users can leverage their industry knowledge and functional skillset and combine data insight with experience to produce the best results.
  • Intuitive, easy-to-use solutions help to combat user resistance and ensure user adoption. While there are always cultural issues surrounding this type of adoption and the perceived changes in responsibilities, when business users see the value of having crucial information at their fingertips, the enterprise can ease the transition and ensure user adoption.
  • No matter the role of the user, the team can enjoy the benefits of augmented analytics and make the transition to Citizen Data Scientists to improve collaboration, data sharing and fact-based decision-making.
  • The business can understand quality and maintenance issues, refine customer targeting and marketing optimization, and make appropriate financial investments, and they can analyze trends and patterns and make forecasts and predictions.
  • When the enterprise adopts these tools and techniques, they allow Citizen Data Scientists to perform analytics on a day-to-day basis and, where appropriate to effectively interact with and collaborate with the IT team and data scientists to refine data and prepare it for more strategic initiatives, so there is a seamless handoff from the business user to the analytical community, when and as necessary.

When the business is ready to acquire augmented analytics or to upgrade from existing, more restrictive solutions designed for professional analytical resources, it is important to choose the right solution – one with sophisticated tools that are presented in an intuitive user interface with auto-suggestions and recommendations to assist business users, and ample personalization of dashboards and reports.

With the right IT consulting partner, you can select and implement an Augmented Analytics Solution with business intelligence (BI) and advanced capabilities, and ensure that every user can leverage these tools, no matter their skillset or technical capabilities. Explore our free white paper, ‘A Roadmap To ROI And User Adoption Of Augmented Analytics And BI Tools.’

Original Post: Choose Augmented Analytics Designed for Business Users!

Improve Apps and Software with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

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August 1, 2024

Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Improve My Business and Consumer Apps?

It is impossible to listen to the news, read a business publication or browse social media without finding an article or story about Artificial Intelligence (AI).

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Should My Business Invest in Generative AI?

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June 26, 2024

Can Generative AI (GenAI) Help My Business?

Whether you are in the business of technology, or an average citizen, there is no doubt you know about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and you have probably heard or read about the advances made in Generative AI (GenAI).

According to Gartner business surveys, GenAI has become one of the most adopted and deployed technologies, and it is either in use in many industries and businesses, or it is in the works.

As a senior manager in a software business, or a corporate CIO, a software engineer or a consumer, you are probably thinking about how you can use GenAI to make your product better, or your life simpler. If you ARE in the business of technology, you may already have started a GenAI project.

But, it may be wise to exercise some caution. You know the old adage, ‘just because you can, doesn’t mean you should?’ That certainly applies to GenAI.

Yes, this technology has advanced enough to offer some value in some instances, but it should not be widely adopted without understanding its current limitations. Don’t let the promise of GenAI blind you to the fact that it is not yet a mature technology and that it is not suitable for all applications.

Can Generative AI (GenAI) Help My Business?

Before you start your project, you should consider the following factors:

  • GenAI alone is not the magic potion many think it is. In fact, the best use of GenAI is as a component of a holistic landscape of technologies, which may or may not include other types of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.
  • Business use cases are a wise addition to your strategic discussion. How and where will your business use GenAI and does the addition of this technology add value or provide competitive, productivity or collaborative improvements? Implementing GenAI just because it is cutting edge, does not add value to your organization.
  • The cost of implementing these new technologies must be considered. That consideration should include the estimated useful life of the investment and its return to the organization.
  • For some tasks like content summarization for presentations or reports, or routine content creation, standard product descriptions, etc., GenAI may be a welcome addition, and will provide productivity improvement for your team.
  • When considering the use of GenAI, it is important to understand how and when your team will use the capabilities and set reasonable expectations for its use. If and when you decide to implement GenAI, it is equally important to train and inform your team and help them understand what they can achieve with this technology. You must also ensure that the team understands what GenAI will NOT do for them. There is a lot of hype out there, and team members may think that GenAI is going to either a) replace their position, or b) give them back 50% of their time for other tasks. It is likely that neither of those scenarios will be true, so be sure your team understands the transition, what they can expect, and what you will expect of them.
  • Involving experienced team members in the AI process is imperative. You can’t ‘set and forget’ your tasks without risking incorrect output or issues that will affect customer satisfaction or put your business at risk. Consider how and when you will monitor and manage output and what human intervention is required for the use you have imagined in your use cases.
  • While we are on the subject of expectations, let’s remember that, while the future of GenAI is promising, the current state technology is not a boiler plate. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution that can be hurriedly put into place, nor will it solve all your problems.

There has been much marketing hype about GenAI, but at the end of the day, if your business is going to invest time and money in this technology, it must establish a reasonable strategic initiative with measurable metrics and risk assessment and management reviews.

Before your business tackles a GenAI investment project, and all the technology, cultural and management changes that it requires, ask yourself a) what problems does my business have and what are our most important priorities, b) Can GenAI realistically help our business solve or reduce these problems and c) how can I measure and manage this new approach to prove my theories?

As we have outlined in this article, it is important to recognize the limitations of the current Generative AI (GenAI) solutions, and develop a thorough and complete understanding of your prospective business use before making a decision to invest in and implement this type of solution in your organization. Contact Us to find out how we can help you plan and achieve your goals. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Analytics, Artificial Intelligence Development, White Paper: What is AI and How Can It Help My Business? Explore our articles on AI: Generative AI, the Benefits and Applications, Ideas to Get You Started with Generative AI, Understand AI, OpenAI and Chat GPT.

Original Post : Generative AI (GenAI) Is NOT a One-Size-Fits-All Solution!

Augmented Analytics Provides Benefits to Data Scientists!

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May 17, 2024

When an enterprise undertakes an Augmented Analytics project, it is typically doing so because it wishes to initiate data democratization, improve data literacy among its team members and create Citizen Data Scientists. The organization looks for a solution that is easy enough for its business users and intuitive enough to produce clear results; one that also provides sophisticated functionality and features and will produce a suitable Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

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AI In Analytics: Today and Tomorrow!

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April 19, 2024

Nothing…and I DO mean NOTHING…is more prominent in technology buzz today than Artificial Intelligence (AI). The use of Generative AI, LLM and products such as ChatGPT capabilities has been applied to all kinds of industries, from publishing and research to targeted marketing and healthcare. Gartner recently estimated that the market for AI software will be nearly $134.8 billion, with the market growing by 31.1% in next several years. In a recent survey of C-suite executives, 80% of said they believe AI will transform their organizations, and 64% said it is the most transformational technology in a generation.

(more…) "AI In Analytics: Today and Tomorrow!"

Can I Ensure That My Analytics Project Gets Approved?

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February 14, 2024

You have decided that your business can benefit from an analytics solution. Now, it is time to convince your executive team, your managers and your users. If you are to gain approval for your initiative, you must take the right approach.

In this article, we discuss some of the primary factors you must consider to build and present your initiative to the various audiences within your organization.

How Can Assure Approval of My Analytics Project?

A four-year study of businesses implementing analytics solutions found the following:

  • Less than 50% of the businesses reported measurable results
  • Only one third of the businesses met their objectives for user adoption
  • 77% said that user adoption was a challenge
  • Only 20% reported that analytics insights provided positive business outcomes

Before you give up on your initiative, consider this: most software projects fail because of poor planning and execution. So, if you can plan appropriately, you will be way ahead of the game. Here are a few factors you will need to include in your review and planning process.

IT Team – Be sure you include your IT team in your planning. You will need a comprehensive understanding of your existing technology, hardware, network and devices and you will need the help of your IT team to assist you in planning roll-out, estimating the cost of new technology to implement your plan, and interviewing prospective solution vendors and service providers.

To Gain Their Buy-In: Involve them, and ask for their opinion. Build a plan and allow them to review it and comment. Listen to their concerns. Ask for their support in working with users. Ensure that the vendor you engage will provide support for IT so that your IT team is not overwhelmed with new and expanded tasks and responsibilities.

Executives – Senior executives will be looking at investment costs, return on investment (ROI) and the total cost of ownership (TCO) and at the value you claim this solution will provide. Be prepared before you approach your executive team. Be sure you have involved all the right players and include representatives of these groups to address concerns and answer questions if the executive team wants to probe and challenge.

To Gain Their Buy-In: Be prepared! Keep your presentation at a high level, but be sure you have the details to answer their questions if and when they arise. Provide more detailed reports for them to peruse at their leisure. They probably won’t dive in, but they will be reassured that you have done your homework. Focus your presentation on a) reduction of cost, b) competitive positioning with EXAMPLES of how analytics will help achieve these goals, c) doing less with more and making the company more productive.

Managers – Managers will be concerned about putting more strain on business users and team members and, since the modern approach to business intelligence and analytics involves the business users and their transition to Citizen Data Scientists, you must focus on the managers and what’s in it for them. How does this help them to do their job? They are accountable for results, and they only have so many team members to get the job done. They are also evaluated, based on how their employees see their management style and effectiveness, and they will not want their team to complain.

To Gain Their Buy-In: Focus on their business processes and workflow and how augmented analytics and business user involvement can speed the process, ensure more fact-based decisions and make the managers look good, without putting more strain on the business user. Ensure that your vendor and IT team have a plan to reassure the managers so that they don’t worry about the use of sophisticated systems that will take a lot of training time. How will the roll-out be done? You want a controlled approach so that users are not spending a lot of time getting up to speed and neglecting day-to-day tasks.

Business Users – As usual, the buck stops with the team member. They are the ones who will be asked to change their processes, learn new systems and take on new responsibilities. Look again at the survey results reported above and notice how poor user adoption affected analytics projects. If you can’t get your users to adopt the solution, your project will fail. Your executives, IT team and managers may think this is a great idea, but they will blame you if the team does not respond positively. Involve users in advance to gather and thereby anticipate their concerns when you present your findings and your plan. Do not be defensive. Listen to their issues and incorporate those concerns into your review and selection of a vendor and a solution. With the right self-serve augmented analytics solution and service provider, you can assure them that a) the system will be easy to use and won’t take a lot of time to learn, b) will make their job easier and c) will give them a career advantage.

To Gain Their Buy-In: Listen, digest and address concerns. Understand that there is a culture shift involved in this process and be sure you acknowledge that at all levels of your presentation, including your executive team. Let’s not pretend this new idea will not require change. It will. But if you work with all levels to assure that new responsibilities will be rewarded in employee evaluations and that the team will be supported by managers who are true champions of the process, you will be ahead of the game. Try to meet with users without IT and managers in the room, and then regroup with the appropriate staff (managers, IT etc.) after you have had a chance to evaluate and address user concerns. Users are more likely to be receptive if they aren’t put on the spot. BUT be sure to control the discussion and the environment so it doesn’t turn into a complaint session. When you are ready to do your sales pitch and you have addressed all their concerns, focus on the user and their hot buttons. Tell them how this solution will help them and assure them that the vendor and your implementation team will be there every step of the way. And then follow through!

For more information and details on how to plan for and achieve success with an augmented analytics solutions, read our free articles: ‘A Roadmap to ROI and User Adoption of Augmented Analytics and BI Tools,’ ‘Making the Case for Embedded BI and Analytics,’ and ‘Integrate Augmented Analytics and Digital Transformation to Achieve Continuous Business Improvement.’

In this article, we have included just a few of the considerations and factors you will have to address in order to build a plan for your Augmented Analytics project. It is a good idea to engage an IT expert – one with the skills and experience to anticipate your concerns, work with you on industry and business issues and plan for a small, medium or large enterprise installation. An expert team can help you manage the technology review and requirements, and plan for your presentation, etc. Be sure you choose a vendor with sophisticated augmented analytics features and functionality in an easy-to-use environment that will support the transition of your business users to Citizen Data Scientists and ensure that your project will succeed. Contact Us to find out how we can help you plan and achieve your goals. It really IS possible!

Original Post : How Can Assure Approval of My Analytics Project?

Digital Transformation Must Include Current and Future Staff!

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March 29, 2023

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.

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Make Your Team Your Secret Weapon in Digital Transformation!

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February 15, 2023

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.’

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Social Media and Digital Transformation!

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December 22, 2022

When businesses consider implementing a Digital Transformation (Dx) strategy, many will struggle with the idea of improved customer satisfaction. How can streamlining and automating processes and enabling the use of technology translate into improved customer interaction and build brand and relationship stability?

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