Tag: Data Literacy

Citizen Data Scientists Can Partner With Data Scientists!

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August 6, 2024

A Citizen Data Scientist Initiative Can Optimize Data Scientists and Encourage a Data-Driven Culture!

According to some estimates, the average salary of a Data Scientist in the United States is over $150,000 per year. If your business wishes to accommodate a ‘data-first’ strategy to improve metrics and measurable success and avoid guesswork and strategies that are based on opinion rather than fact, it can either employ a team of expensive professionals, or it can take a different approach.

‘Citizen Data Scientists can use their knowledge of a business sector, industry, function or market to drive questions and develop reports and presentations to illustrate issues, identify problems and find opportunities for growth and competitive positioning, and share this data (and the search and analytical techniques) with other users.’

Citizen Data Scientists are business users who have a place on your team and are hired because of their professional and career experience in a particular industry, business function or discipline. When they are given access to data analytics, they can merge their knowledge of an industry, e.g., research, healthcare, law, finance, sales, supply chain, production, construction etc., with data integrated from databases, best-of-breed software programs, ERP, SCM, HRM and other systems and use sophisticated analytical tools in an easy-to-use, intuitive environment to gather and analyze data and produce insightful, concise results that are meaningful to their role.

Leverage Citizen Data Scientists to Augmented Data Scientist Teams

Depending on the size, market and industry of your business, you may choose to augment your staff with one or more data scientists to refine results produced by Citizen Data Scientists on a day-to-day basis. So, if a power user or business users discovers a challenge or an opportunity and your management team wishes to further explore the issue to understand its strategic or operational value, a Data Scientist can take the predictive model or other analytical report produced by a Citizen Data Scientist and refine the results for executive review.

Whether you choose to employ the services of a Data Scientist, provide business analysts or IT professionals to support your business users, you can create a comprehensive foundation for analytics across your organization.

By democratizing data analytics you can achieve many benefits, including:

  • Improved Data Literacy Across the Enterprise
  • Improved Productivity of Data Scientists, IT and Business Analysts (who can spend time on strategic initiatives rather than producing daily reports)
  • Optimized Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for all software and systems
  • Fact-Based Decisions and Metrics-Driven Strategies, Goals and Objectives
  • Team Member Career Advancement
  • Optimization of Resources and Improved Team Productivity

A comprehensive self-serve augmented analytics solution will include Modern Business Intelligence (BI) and Reporting with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Self-Serve Data Preparation, Assisted Predictive Modeling, and Smart Data Visualization with auto-suggestions to drive the analytical techniques and illustration of data based on data type, volume, etc., and other tools like Embedded BI, Mobile BI, Key Influencer Analytics, Sentiment Analysis, and Anomaly Alerts and Monitoring.

With these tools, the Citizen Data Scientist can leverage Natural Language Processing (NLP) and search analytics with machine learning to ask questions using simple human queries and receive insightful answers. They can use their knowledge of a business sector, industry, function or market to drive questions and develop reports and presentations to illustrate issues, identify problems and find opportunities for growth and competitive positioning, and share this data (and the search and analytical techniques) with other users.

Citizen Data Scientists can predict customer responses to new product features, and to new marketing campaigns, analyze the likelihood of fraud or risk, identify supply chain issues, etc. These tools can also help the organization to foster collaboration and data sharing and encourage business users to innovate, create and explore opportunities using data-driven, factual information.

‘When Citizen Data Scientists are given access to data analytics, they can merge their knowledge of an industry, e.g., research, healthcare, law, finance, sales, supply chain, production, construction etc., with data integrated from databases, best-of-breed software programs, ERP, SCM, HRM and other systems and use sophisticated analytical tools in an easy-to-use, intuitive environment to gather and analyze data and produce insightful, concise results that are meaningful to their role.’

These are just a few of the factors you must consider when implementing a Citizen Data Scientist approach. Business users who are interested in becoming a Citizen Data Scientist must be willing to embrace new technology and tools and working at the leading edge of a new approach to collaboration and decision-making. initiative. Consider engaging an expert for your Citizen Data Scientist. IT consultants with experience and skill in this area can provide crucial support to help you succeed with your Citizen Data Scientist initiative and can provide simple Training Programs to bring your team on board and help them see the value to themselves and to the organization.

Original Post : Leverage Citizen Data Scientists to Augmented Data Scientist Teams!

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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White Paper – Enabling Business Optimization and Expense Reduction Through the Use of Augmented Analytics

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May 9, 2024

White Paper – Enabling Business Optimization and Expense Reduction Through the Use of Augmented Analytics

No matter the reason or the goal, when an enterprise chooses the right Augmented Analytics solution and carefully plans for and executes its implementation, it can optimize business results, reduce expenses and improve its market position, customer satisfaction and user adoption, and it is key to transforming business users to Citizen Data Scientists to improve results and team skills. Here, we examine the benefits of Augmented Analytics and how to plan and successfully execute an Augmented Analytics initiative.

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Use Smart Data Visualization to Improve Decisions!

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May 8, 2024

Smart Data Visualization and Personalized Dashboards Improve Data Insight and Team Collaboration!

Augmented Analytics was designed to remove the barriers erected by the traditional business intelligence and analytics solutions. In order to achieve data democratization and improve data literacy among team members within an enterprise, the organization must provide simple, easy-to-understand solutions that display analytical results in a way that is meaningful and intuitive.

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What Citizen Data Scientists DO NOT Need in Augmented Analytics

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March 13, 2024

If you are an IT professional, a business manager or an executive, you have probably been following the progress of the Citizen Data Scientist movement. For a number of years, Gartner and other technology research and analysis firms have predicted and monitored the growth of this phenomenon.

In fact, Gartner predicted that, ‘…40% of data science tasks will be automated, resulting in increased productivity and broader usage by citizen data scientists.’

So, how is it going? It’s actually going quite well.

However, it is worth noting that some businesses have not had the success they expected when implementing a Citizen Data Scientist approach. One of the primary reasons for falling short of results is to set inappropriate expectations regarding the role of Citizen Data Scientists vs. Data Scientists within the organization.

As the Citizen Data Scientist approach gained momentum, businesses seemed to develop an expectation that Citizen Data Scientists could replace Data Scientists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Augmented Analytics and Citizen Data Scientists are not meant to replace refined data modeling or the role of Data Scientists, but rather can supplement and support analytics across the enterprise. The enterprise should not discount the value of strategic data analytics and its place in the organization but rather should see augmented analytics and Citizen Data Scientists as a way to drive fact-based decisions and provide clarity and data-driven actions across the enterprise.

The fact is that there is a place for Citizen Data Scientists within your business, AND a place for Data Scientists and the strategic use of their skills.

What Citizen Data Scientists DO NOT Need in Augmented Analytics

If you want your Citizen Data Scientist initiative to succeed, and you wish to achieve data democratization and data literacy, you must understand how augmented analytics should be used to support business users and organizational objectives. So, let’s dive in and explore this issue further.

AUGMENTED ANALYTICS SOLUTIONS

When selecting an augmented analytics solution, your enterprise must choose tools that are designed specifically for business users with average technology and analytical skills. Easy-to-use, intuitive tools will ensure user adoption. If you choose business intelligence or advanced analytics tools that are meant to data scientists, IT professionals or business analysts, you are setting your team up to fail. These tools are focused on the needs of Data Scientists. The tools are powerful and can produce undeniable value in the right hands, but they are not designed for your business professionals. To use these tools, users must manually gather and prepare data, scrubbing, cleaning, etc., and then write complex queries and use complicated algorithms and analytical techniques. Users must be expert in R programming or in Python or other scripting and programming languages. In short, this kind of software, app or solution is not for the feint of heart, and it’s certainly not suitable for a Citizen Data Scientist.

The right business user solution is an augmented analytics should be designed with all the tools a business user needs to get swift, dependable results.

  • Self-Serve Data Preparation
  • Assisted Predictive Modeling
  • Smart Data Visualization
  • Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  • Clickless Search Analytics

EXPECTATIONS AND RESULTS

Once you have chosen the right augmented analytics solution, you must establish appropriate expectations.

Optimize Citizen Data Scientists And Data Scientists

MANAGERS AND EXECUTIVES SHOULD NOT EXPECT CITIZEN DATA SCIENTISTS TO BE DATA SCIENTISTS

That is not the purpose of this strategy. The purpose of a Citizen Data Scientist approach is to give your team members tools that will allow them to discover trends and patterns, and to gain insight into what is working and what is not working in their current process, workflow and in their day-to-day activities. If and when an issue is identified that will require adapting a strategy or a major goal or objective, the enterprise must have a process in place that will allow a team member to refer her/his research to a Data Scientist, IT team member or other analytical professional, where the initial analysis will be refined and studied for use in strategic goals. When a Citizen Data Scientist uses augmented analytics, they should not be expected to perform complex modeling or to establish predictive models that will be rolled out in production mode or dictate a new strategy.

CITIZEN DATA SCIENTISTS SHOULD FOCUS ON HYPOTHESIS AND PROTOTYPING

If a business user/Citizen Data Scientist discovers an issue or an opportunity, that user can explore the issue, look for relationships among the variables and factors that affect success and failure, develop an understanding of the challenge or the possibilities for product bundling, changing a marketing campaign, etc., and then share and collaborate with the team to further analyze and discuss the issues. It is this day-to-day access to analytics and clear data that will allow business users to make fact-based decisions and to build an understanding of data and analytics and how the information contained in data repositories and software systems can be integrated and analyzed to gain more clarity and to provide real metrics and measurements, so decisions are based on facts, rather than guesswork and opinion.

Role – Day-to-day business decisions, team collaboration and data sharing.

Benefits – Improved team collaboration, improved data literacy and perspective, improved business agility, timely decisions.

DATA SCIENTISTS SHOULD FOCUS ON STRATEGIC GOALS AND DATA REFINEMENT

Most organizations cannot afford a team of Data Scientists and, even if they could, they do not want those professionals pulled away from crucial, strategic focus by day-to-day requests and projects that have short-term outcomes and importance. Rather than trying to replace Data Scientists within the business, the enterprise can optimize their time and reduce the need to hire more resources, by improving focus and enabling a workflow that allows them to concentrate on those areas that will reap the most benefit to the organization.

Role – Analyze and refine data for 100% accuracy and strategic use, act as expert, statistical expert.

Benefits – Focus on strategic issues with fewer day-to-day requests, collaborate on projects that require data refinement for 100% accuracy, focus on mature modeling requirements.

When an organization sets out to leverage the Citizen Data Scientist approach, it can ensure success by taking the time to plan appropriately AND by establishing appropriate expectations for how and when business users will engage in analytics and the results they can and should produce. When an organization understands the true meaning and purpose of the Citizen Data Scientist role, it can incorporate this strategy and align business users and Data Scientists to achieve greater collaboration and synergy.

Be sure you choose a vendor with comprehensive augmented analytics features and functionality designed specifically for business users, to 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: What Citizen Data Scientists DO NOT Need in Augmented Analytics!

Citizen Data Scientists Need These 3 Things to Succeed!

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March 5, 2024

3 Primary Components for Citizen Data Scientist Success!

The Citizen Data Scientist phenomenon is in full swing and, while the approach has its detractors, the proof is in success, and many organizations are actively succeeding using the Citizen Data Scientist approach.

Gartner has predicted that, in the future ‘…40% of data science tasks will be automated, resulting in increased productivity and broader usage by citizen data scientists.’

‘The enterprise does not expect to hire a legion of data scientists to perform analytics for every day-to-day need within the organization.’

There are many benefits of transitioning business users to a Citizen Data Scientist role, including:

  • Improved data literacy
  • Increased Data Democratization
  • Improved Collaboration
  • Increased Productivity
  • Improved Alignment with Goals and Objectives
  • Optimization of Data Scientist and IT Resources
  • …and more!
3 Keys to Citizen Data Scientist Success

There are many factors and components inherent in the success of a Citizen Data Scientist. If you are a Citizen Data Scientist candidate, there are three primary components of success:

  1. Organizational Commitment and Support – A business cannot just say they are committed to the Citizen Data Scientist approach. It must plan carefully and include a complete review of the current workflow, business processes and technology in order to make the changes required to support the new program. Citizen Data Scientists must be supported with revisions to performance evaluations and promotions. These revisions should encourage and enable the use of augmented analytics and collaboration so that business users are rewarded for acquiring and using new skills.
  2. Appropriate Augmented Analytics Tools – As with any other type of position or job, a Citizen Data Scientist needs the right tools to succeed. Without the right analytics tools, business users cannot make a successful transition to a Citizen Data Scientist role. The enterprise does not expect to hire a legion of data scientists to perform analytics for every day-to-day need within the organization but, if business users are expected to perform analytical activities, they will need easy-to-use tools that are sophisticated enough to achieve results, without requiring complex analytical skills or lengthy training. Augmented Analytics tools that are designed for business users should provide a foundation of machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) so search analytics is as easy as asking a question in a Google-type interface, with features like Smart Data Visualization, Assisted Predictive Modeling and Self-Serve Data Preparation.
  3. Curiosity and the Willingness to Explore – A prospective Citizen Data Scientist should have at least an average technology capability, with above average curiosity and a willingness to learn and collaborate. The ideal candidate should be recognized as someone who interacts well with others, and is willing to mentor others and help them become comfortable with new tools and processes.

‘If you are a Citizen Data Scientist candidate, there are three primary components of success.’

These are just a few of the factors you must consider when implementing a Citizen Data Scientist approach. Business users who are interested in becoming a Citizen Data Scientist must be willing to embrace new technology and tools and working at the leading edge of a new approach to collaboration and decision-making. initiative. Consider engaging an expert for your Citizen Data Scientist. IT consultants with experience and skill in this area can provide crucial support to help you succeed with your Citizen Data Scientist initiative and can provide simple Training Programs to bring your team on board and help them see the value to themselves and to the organization.

Original Post: Citizen Data Scientists Need These 3 Things to Succeed!

Case Study : Smarten Augmented Analytics Provides Comprehensive Solution for India’s Largest Jewelry Brand

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February 21, 2024

Smarten Augmented Analytics Provides Comprehensive Solution for India’s Largest Jewelry Brand

The Client is India’s largest omni-channel jewelry brand, and is recognized and renowned by India consumers. The Client has 165 retail stores in 66+ cities across India, as well as a thriving jewelry eCommerce presence online. Its product line includes rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces, chains, bangles, bracelets, mangalsutra, and nose pins, as well as 22k (916) and 24k (995) gold coins with certification and BIS Hallmark stamp guarantee. The Client customer base is growing rapidly, and to attract and retain customers, the business provides new designs and uses a mobile application to bridge the gap between brick-and-mortar stores and the virtual world. The mobile app provides a Virtual Try-On feature that allows customers to ‘try on’ jewelry and designs using a virtual reflection and image.

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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?

Give Your Business Users Mobile BI to Ensure Success!

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February 7, 2024

Why Should My Enterprise Provide Mobile Business Intelligence (BI) Tools to Business Users?

Many businesses are beginning to see and leverage the value of business intelligence and augmented analytics within the organization to engender data democratization, improve data literacy and collaboration and improve results. In a competitive global and local business environment, this move toward analytics for all is a positive thing.

If your business is considering BI tools or augmented analytics, or if you have already implemented these tools within the enterprise, there is one more question to answer.

Does your organization provide Mobile BI to its business users? If it does not, you are missing out on a crucial opportunity and a critical business advantage.

‘Mobile augmented analytics can benefit your business users and help to transform them into Citizen Data Scientists.’

When considering a Mobile BI app, it is important to verify ease of access and availability of data on the road and anywhere your team may be working, and to ensure that your team has tools that are easy-to-use and will enable user adoption.

Can My Business Users Benefit from Mobile BI?

If you select the right mobile business intelligence (BI) app, you can enjoy the following benefits:

  • A native app, with seamless user interface for a great user experience (Ux). Available for iOS and Android
  • Extends the office environment. Allows swift analysis and decisions from anywhere
  • Encourages user adoption and provides support for BI investments and data democratization
  • Access rights are defined on the server so security and privacy is ensured at all levels
  • Supported by a server that is hosted anywhere within IT infrastructure –on premises, public or private cloud
  • Business Users will have access to dashboards, reports, Clickless Analytics – Google-type Natural Language Processing (NLP) Search functionality
  • Start-up is easy, within a few minutes and support is readily available

The right Mobile BI App should include the following components and features:

  • Provide access to Dashboards, Graphs, KPIs, PDF reports, and Clickless Analytics – NLP Search – all from within the mobile app.
  • Users login with an enterprise login, browse and search objects, and access objects for interactive analysis with access to ‘my favorites’ for quick navigation, i.e., objects marked as favorites, and recently used objects.
  • Download Smarten objects via PDF, XLS, and other file formats and share via WhatsApp, email or other sharing app loaded on their device.
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP) search, where users can query a dataset with a Google-type interface where a user can compose a question using natural English language and receive answers using visualization that provides the best-fit for the user inquiry. With natural language-processing-based search capability, users do not need to scroll through menus and navigation. Enter a search query in natural language and the system will translate the query, and return the results in natural language in an appropriate form, such as visualization, tables, numbers or descriptions.
  • No requirement to redesign or customize dashboards and reports to accommodate a mobile device. Dashboards and Reports are displayed and optimized for the best user experience on the mobile device.
  • Licensing fees are affordable and implementation is easy and fast.

‘When considering a Mobile BI app, it is important to verify ease of access and availability of data on the road and anywhere your team may be working, and to ensure that your team has tools that are easy-to-use and will enable user adoption.’

Find out how Mobile BI and mobile augmented analytics can benefit your business users and help to transform them into Citizen Data Scientists, and how it can provide an advantage to your data scientists, business analysts and IT team members.

Original Post: Give Your Business Users Mobile BI to Ensure Success!

Smarten Augmented Analytics is Named as a Representative Vendor in Gartner® 2023 ‘Market Guide for Augmented Analytics, Published October, 2023!

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November 23, 2023

Smarten is pleased to announce that its Smarten Augmented Analytics solution is included as a Representative Vendor in the Market Guide for Augmented Analytics Published October 2, 2023 (ID G00780764).

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