Tag: Business Intelligence Tools

Do self-serve BI tools support data governance, integral data security and organizational IT standards and policies? In some cases, the answer is ‘no’. But, that shouldn’t stop you from looking at self-serve BI tools. The question isn’t whether the integrity of data governance can be preserved when using self-serve BI tools. The question is really, ‘which vendor should I select in order to achieve true self-serve BI and data democracy without eroding data governance and security?’

When business intelligence vendors talk about democratizing data discovery, they can have very different interpretations about ‘democracy’. If a business intends to provide self-serve BI tools to its employees for daily use and data discovery, it must provide true data democratization. The business user cannot be limited to viewing static dashboards developed by dashboard developers with only the most basic drill down and filtering capabilities. Business users must be empowered by true data democratization and self-serve BI tools, which, in many cases, is the original intent of a BI solution implementation. Sadly, many businesses never achieve their original goals, but rather end up with ‘packaged dashboards’, because they are hamstrung by desktop-based data discovery BI tools that require design control and intervention by dashboard developers and limit business users to packaged views and tasks.

The concept of ‘self serve’ and ‘personalization’ is, I believe, an offshoot of the current state of technology, ease of access and ease-of-use. People are used to having information at their fingertips in a way that is meaningful to them, and serves their needs. Technology users are no longer willing to sacrifice personal requirements or accept a behemoth solution that suits 10% of their needs. As employees, these consumers and individuals bring a similar focus to their use of technology. They are used to having information at their fingertips in every aspect of their lives and they are not willing to give that up when they step into the confines of an office or go on the road to meet with a customer.

If you want to hold your employees accountable and help them contribute to business success, you have to give them the tools they need to understand what is working in their day-to-day business environment, where there are problems, what has to be changed, how their team members are doing in making progress toward goals, and how possible changes in pricing, resources, inventory or other factors might affect the business.

The popularity of social media is a topic that is often discussed around conference room tables in small, medium and large businesses. Every manager and business executive understands that they have to leverage social media to market to prospects, and to keep customers engaged, yet these same managers and executives find it difficult to objectively measure the success of these programs.As with any business program or project, if one cannot illustrate the need for, and success of, a proposed program, it is unlikely that the management team will approve that program. Is your business willing to spend time and resources on social media based solely on the fact that your competitors use this tool? If not, it is critical to find a way to measure the success of an internet marketing campaign and determine whether the social media marketing, pay-per-click and search engine optimization efforts are providing the success your business requires to justify these efforts. Moreover, if these programs are not achieving the results your business needs, you must correct or change your approach in order to achieve the ROI your business needs.