The key to analytics today is to provide the tools to every user on the team and allow them to leverage those tools in whatever way is meaningful to their role and will help them support the goals of the organization. Business users need a BI tool that can provide business intelligence reporting and let them visualize data in a way that makes sense for the data and purpose they are considering.
An enterprise that employs restrictive business intelligence tools is losing competitive advantage and crucial business opportunities every day. To get the most out of business intelligence software, an organization needs a self-serve business intelligence dashboard that will allow business users to access data integrated from multiple sources and analyze that data with ease, using business intelligence reporting that incorporates sophisticated features in a simple, interactive environment.
I have a few pet peeves but every one of my team members knows ONE of these pet peeves all too well. I HATE spending time and resources on endless report customization and data sharing that never quite makes it to every team member. I hate it when everyone isn’t on the same page! But, I don’t have the time to run to every office and check on what team members are using to make decisions.
Self-serve business intelligence tools are no longer new. Nearly every BI tool vendor has an offering in the market. But, not every business intelligence tool is equally useful.
I know many of you balk at the idea of upgrading or acquiring BI tools. The benefits of business intelligence software are well known but organizations are often discouraged by what they perceive as the high cost and long implementation time required to complete the project.
Business intelligence tools do not have to be cumbersome. Business intelligence reporting does not have to be incomplete, inaccurate or dry and boring. If you can reimagine business intelligence, and see it for what it SHOULD be, rather than what you may have now or what you believe it is, your business users, IT staff and executives and managers can enjoy BI reporting, BI dashboards and BI tools that meet the needs of every user.
Since it is the prerogative of a consultant to question and modify predominant jargon, I am hatting (yes, this too is an English word) …I am hatting myself in the hat of a consultant this morning, and I am questioning the application of the term “Business Intelligence.”
