What Citizen Data Scientists DO NOT Need in Augmented Analytics

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!

Citizen Data Scientists Need These 3 Things to Succeed!

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.

Case Study : 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.

Can I Ensure That My Analytics Project Gets Approved?

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!

Give Your Business Users Mobile BI to Ensure Success!

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.

How Do I Succeed with Digital Transformation?

How Can I Jump Start My Digital Transformation (Dx) Project?

Digital Transformation (Dx) may seem daunting, but with the right planning and execution, a Dx project will reap many benefits for your business.

Should I Start a Citizen Data Scientist Program?

Is it the Right Time for My Business to Initiate a Citizen Data Scientist Program?

Whether you are a business owner, a business executive or a business manager, or you just like to keep up with industry trends, you no doubt have read about the transition of business users to Citizen Data Scientists. The topic has been in industry journals and publications for years, and it is still relevant today.

Support Enterprise Agility with the Right Self-Serve BI Tools!

Enterprise Agility and Adaptability Are Crucial. The Right BI Tools Can Help!

Gartner research states that, ‘90% of corporate strategies will explicitly mention information as a critical enterprise asset and analytics as an essential competency.’

Whether yours is a small or a large business, your success today depends upon your agility and adaptability and those characteristics also apply to your data and your information.

If you are to build a flexible business environment, you must have tools and solutions that allow you to monitor and manage data and information and use that data to make fact-based decisions.

‘Comprehensive BI Tools should provide data analytics access for all business users and, above all, provide flexible, agile solutions that can be used at all levels to collaborate, share data and report and communicate with clarity.’

When considering a business intelligence (BI) solution, choosing a self-serve tool serves two purposes:

Choose Self-Serve BI Tools to Support Business Success

Support for the Organization and Users

A business can provide software and tools for users, but if those tools are not user-friendly, or if team members do not perceive their value, they will not adopt the solution into their business processes. In order to ensure that the organization can expect a good return on investment (ROI) and a low total cost of ownership (TCO), the enterprise must select a BI tool that is useful to the team and can easily be applied to satisfy the needs of their role and their responsibilities. The tools must also provide self-serve tools that offer comprehensive predictive analytics, key performance indicators (KPIs), flexible reporting, self-serve data preparation, deep dive analytics, mobile BI and social BI. This foundation will allow business users to improve data literacy and perform analytics with confidence, thereby improving fact-based decision-making.

Flexibility and Agility

When the organization selects business intelligence tools that are flexible, users can leverage personalized dashboards and customize their use to serve the needs of their role, their team and their business unit. The ability to adapt quickly by finding the root cause of a problem, spotting a trend and addressing that trend or identifying an opportunity to improve competitive advantage can provide an edge in the market and allow the organization to move quickly. Users can collaborate and share data to make decisions and recommendations and suggestions are clearly supported by data, so there is no hesitation or delay.

‘If you are to build a flexible business environment, you must have tools and solutions that allow you to monitor and manage data and information and use that data to make fact-based decisions.’

Comprehensive BI Tools should provide data analytics access for all business users and, above all, provide flexible, agile solutions that can be used at all levels to collaborate, share data and report and communicate with clarity. Simple, Self-Serve BI Tools can provide your business with the foundation to achieve your data democratization and user adoption goals. Let us help you achieve your vision and improve productivity and insight across the organization.

Original Post : Choose Self-Serve BI Tools to Support Business Success!

Data Democratization is Important. So Are the Right BI Tools!

Select the Right BI Tools and Succeed with Data Democratization!

Do you know what Data Democratization is? It’s simple, really. Data Democratization is the purposeful approach to cascading and integrating data into the daily workflow of business users to provide access to crucial information and the tools to analyze and understand that data and use it to make confident decisions. Instead of holding data in silos that are only accessible to IT, business analysts, data scientists and management, the enterprise recognizes the value of providing team members with the right information to do their job and contribute to the bottom line.

‘To succeed in data democratization, you need BI tools that provide data analytics access for all business users.’

Gartner predicts that, ‘75% of organizations will…deploy…multiple data hubs to drive mission-critical data and analytics sharing and governance.’ The key here is the ‘analytics sharing’ piece of the statement!

In order to fulfill the promise of this approach, your enterprise must employ business intelligence solutions that are easy-to-use and designed for business users, without advanced technical skills or advanced analytical skills. These tools allow your team members to engage in analytics and enjoy data democratization without the frustration of leveraging solutions designed for data scientists or IT staff.

Data Democratization Can Succeed with the Right BI Tools

Here are a few considerations to give you an idea of the kinds of things you will need to support your data democratization initiative. These factors are crucial to success, as they ensure that your users can and will adopt the BI tools you select to enjoy the new data access you have given them. Without these, you run the risk of spending the time and money to provide access and achieving poor return on investment (ROI) because of poor user adoption.

Embedded BI – By embedding business intelligence into the enterprise apps your users love, you can encourage data democratization and analytics in a single sign-on environment. Users do not have to sign in to multiple systems or move data around. They can start with the data within the ERP, HR, Finance or other system and perform analysis from within that system. Make it as easy as you can, and users will be happy!

Mobile BI – Don’t make your users sit at their desk in an office to use the BI tools. Make these tools accessible from the office and on the road, at home and in a client location or hotel. If you want your users to see the value in data democratization and you want to achieve your goals for this initiative, you must give your users the tools they need WHEN THEY NEED those tools.

Business Intelligence with Seamless User Access and Security – Data democratization does NOT mean throwing caution to the wind. Data must still be secured and accessible to users for the things they need to see, but not for the things they are not eligible to see and not in an environment where data security and privacy are at risk. To democratize your data, you must also ensure data governance, security and access standards and requirements are met.

Natural Language Processing – Make the augmented analytics and BI tools intuitive. Democratized data is no good if the users need an advanced degree to access the data. Natural Language Processing (NLP) allows your users to access data in a familiar way, with a Google-type search interface where they can ask questions using regular language and receive answers in a way that is easy to understand. If they can search, query and find information easily, they are more likely to a) use the system and b) understand the information they produce and make the right decisions.

Tools Designed Specifically for Business Users – The solution you select should be designed for business users, not for data scientists, business analysts, IT or statisticians. While you want the data democratization initiative to expand the skills and knowledge of your team, you do not want them to need advanced skills or training. Select a system that can be adopted and used within minutes – not months. Users want sophisticated functionality in an easy-to-use environment. That is important!

‘If you want your data democratization initiative to succeed, select tools that allow your team members to engage in analytics without the frustration of leveraging solutions designed for data scientists or IT staff.’

There are other considerations but, if you address the ones we have highlighted in this article, you will be well on your way to achieving your data democratization goals and ensuring that your users adopt the solution you select.

BI Tools should provide data analytics access for all business users. Simple, Self-Serve BI Tools can provide your business with the foundation to achieve your data democratization and user adoption goals. Let us help you achieve your vision and improve productivity and insight across the organization.

Original Post : Data Democratization Can Succeed with the Right BI Tools!