Tag: Smarten Analytics

Assessing Ten Years of the Citizen Data Scientist Approach

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March 3, 2026

Ten Years Into the Citizen Data Scientist Revolution

It has been a decade since Gartner first defined the role of a Citizen Data Scientist. In 2018, Forbes published an article, referencing Gartner’s updated analysis of the role and stating that, ‘And the best part is, mid-market organizations already have potential citizen data scientists on their staff—it’s just a matter of tapping those with potential and interest in the work, and cultivating an analytical mindset across their workforce. Then, those who serve as citizen data scientists can grow their own skillsets, all the while being active players in their companies’ ability to tap the value of big data and drive transformation.’

‘It is likely that the Citizen Data Scientist role will continue to evolve, and it is important that the enterprise facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing and build a sustainable technology environment with appropriate policies.’

A lot has happened in the past decade, and today the role of Citizen Data Scientist is no longer new. So, what has changed in the ensuing years? How as this role changed? Has the average enterprise embraced the role and made the technological and cultural changes required to truly support this approach?

A Decade of Citizen Data Scientist Evolution

Here are a few of the ways in which the Citizen Data Scientist approach has evolved within the organization.

  • In the early days of the Citizen Data Scientist approach, Data Scientists often worried that their positions would become obsolete. Nothing can be further from the truth. The use of Data Scientists to perform strategic analytics and to refine analysis performed and submitted by business users has kept Data Scientists busy.
  • The evolution of augmented analytics and self-serve tools has expanded analytical capacity, the speed at which business users can gather and analyze data and the dependability of the outcomes. Drag and drop capabilities, machine learning and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI) have significantly improved tools and made it easier and more desirable for business users to dive into analytics and make it part of their day-to-day role.
  • As cloud-based access expanded, the enterprise leveraged improved access and data platforms to enable collaboration and create multi-disciplinary teams and power user roles that would further encourage the use of these tools across the enterprise. Methods and guidelines improved data literacy and encouraged business user expertise creating more confident Citizen Data Scientists and supporting the role as a mainstream concept.

Every enterprise must do more with less, increase productivity and reduce missteps in order to remain competitive. So, it is likely that the Citizen Data Scientist role will continue to evolve, and it is important that the enterprise facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing and build a sustainable technology environment with appropriate policies for user access, upgraded technology and data analytics tools and standards and regulations to govern and manage risk and maintain alignment with enterprise strategies and goals.

‘Those who serve as citizen data scientists can grow their own skillsets, all the while being active players in their companies’ ability to tap the value of big data and drive transformation.’

If you wish to know more about the Citizen Data Scientist approach and how augmented analytics tools and your industry and market knowledge can position you for success in this role, Contact Us today to find out how our team can help you to improve business results and increase team collaboration, data literacy, productivity and competitive advantage. Get started today with our self-paced FREE Online Citizen Data Scientist course.

Original Post : Assessing Ten Years of the Citizen Data Scientist Approach!

Conversational AI and NLP Expand Access to Analytics

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February 25, 2026

Users LOVE Conversational AI and Intuitive Analytics

Forbes Reports that Conversational AI is making autonomous agents capable of completing end-to-end workflows, so much so that Deloitte projects that 25% of businesses using GenAI will deploy AI agents in 2025 (growing to 50% in 2027).

Analytics solutions represents an ever-expending segment for conversational AI for features and function, and the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Conversational Artificial Intelligence will continue to impact the industry as end users demand easier, more intuitive ways to prepare, analyze, share and report on data.

When we consider this evolving technology, and how it will continue to affect BI solutions and augmented analytics software, one thing is clear. The average enterprise and its users will push for more intuitive products and services, for ease-of-use and improved productivity, improved user adoption, affordability, the flexibility to grow and change with new technology and with business markets.

While we cannot make specific predictions about the evolution of AI and NLP, we can predict that businesses and users will push software vendors and technology companies to provide simpler tools, better, more accurate insight and results and automated features that provide users with alerts, suggestions and support to make their jobs easier and improve results.

Incorporating conversation AI bots and NLP within BI tools will allow users to monitor and manage results more easily and optimize their time by focusing on other, more crucial tasks.

When the organization invests in new or upgraded self-serve analytical tools, it must first ensure that users will adopt these tools and that the features and analytics provided will result in increased productivity and collaboration and resource optimization. When the enterprise selects BI tools with Conversational AI and NLP features, it can achieve all of these goals and assure a good Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies evolve, these technologies will be applied within advanced analytics, self-serve analytics and business intelligence (BI) tools to further improve features, provide better, faster insight and clearer, more concise results and optimize human resources and productivity.

Businesses and Users Push for More as Conversational AI and NLP Expands Access to Analytics

The future of AI and NLP in BI tools will support:

  • Processing large volumes of unstructured data (text, speech, written) to produce actionable insight and reports.
  • Automatically identifying trends, patterns and sentiments to alert users of changes and shifts that may affect goals.
  • Supporting decisions with conversational business intelligence to allow team members and executives to interact through NLP.
  • Real-time analytics to reveal sentiment, emotion, context and tone in customer interaction.
  • Automated reporting to save time and analyze complex data.
  • External data integration to analyze markets, social media, financial markets, investments, and other aspects of external data that will affect businesses.
  • Understanding and responding to voice commands, analyzing and working with contextual information, predicting user needs.
  • Eliminating static reporting, using conversational, dynamic analytics that can leverage predictive and analytical algorithms to produce results.

Contact Us to find out more about how your business can incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning into your products, your business processes and your Digital Transformation (Dx) initiatives. Our AI-Enabled Advanced Analytics Solutions and Products And Services can help you achieve your vision with affordable, dependable technology. Explore our white paper ‘Conversational AI And NLP Analytics Reduces The Dependence And Usage Of Traditional BI Tools, And Improves User Adoption And Data Democratization,’ and our free articles about Agentic AI: ‘The New Age Of AI: Agentic AI’, and ‘What Is Agentic AI And Why Should I Consider It For Apps?’

Original Post : Conversational AI and NLP Expand Access to Analytics!

Mobile BI Tools Are Not Just Nice to Have, They Are A Necessity

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February 18, 2026

Mobile BI Tools Support Users and a Competitive Strategy

No matter the size of your business or the industry or market in which you compete, the importance of business intelligence (BI) and self-serve augmented analytics is no longer in question. Nearly every business is using some form of business intelligence today and, if your business is not, you are already behind the competition!

When we consider the growth of this important solution market, we find that the mobile market for business intelligence solutions is growing exponentially and that is not surprising. Today’s workforce is mobile and, even where employees work onsite, their work will take them away from a desk and into a manufacturing or production environment, or perhaps within the walls of a hospital, a university, a retail store, etc.

‘The shift to mobile BI tools is not just a matter of convenience. It is crucial that your team remain informed and that they have the tools they need to collaborate, share and present data, whether they are on the road, with a client or in an airport. This flexibility reflects the evolving business environment and the need for agility.’

A recent Mordor Intelligence Report revealed that the 2025 market size for mobile business intelligence was 19.33 billion USD and that the 2030 projected market size is 55.56 billion USD.

While many businesses rely solely on BI solutions and look to their team to implement and use these solutions, the growth of business intelligence services is also of note. The complexity of technology landscapes, in-house vs. cloud implementations, security and regulatory and industry compliance, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) add-ons and integration have created an environment that is often best served by expert services.

These services can help businesses to personalize and customize their approach and to provide meaningful mobile BI tools, embedded BI for familiar best-of-breed and legacy software solutions and other tools that will support end users and make the team more productive.

User accessibility and ease-of-use are paramount considerations. The shift to mobile BI tools is not just a matter of convenience. It is crucial that your team remain informed and that they have the tools they need to collaborate, share and present data, whether they are on the road, with a client or in an airport. This flexibility reflects the evolving business environment and the need for agility.

Whether you are a sales manager, a media executive, a healthcare provider or a business analyst, it is important to have access to a suite of BI tools that will help you gather and analyze business data using mobile devices.

Why is Mobile Business Intelligence Important for My Business in Today’s Work Environment?

The team needs interactive data tools and tools that enable sharing and collaboration, reporting and sophisticated analytics – all with dependable security. Users should also be able to tailor their mobile BI tools to suit their role and preferences and integrate the use of these tools within workflow to foster a data-driven, fact-based culture.

‘Today’s workforce is mobile and, even where employees work onsite, their work will take them away from a desk and into a manufacturing or production environment, or perhaps within the walls of a hospital, a university, a retail store, etc.’

Look for a mobile BI tool that will:

  • Support a native mobile environment for Android and iOS, with an intuitive user experience (Ux).
  • Provide access rights defined at the server level with appropriate security and privacy at all levels.
  • Accommodate hosting within the IT infrastructure, on-premises or in public or private cloud environs.
  • Provide users with access to dashboards, reports, and clickless analytics with a natural language processing (NLP) search function.
  • Provide expertise and services that are appropriate for the needs of your organization.

If you want to support your business user team and provide a foundation for BI tools that will better serve your team and your customers, explore Smarten Mobile BI benefits and features, with powerful functionality and access for your business users including out-of-the-box Mobile BI and advanced analytics for every team member. For more information on Mobile BI and Augmented Analytics, read our article, ‘Mobile BI Business Use Provides Real Advantages,’ and take a moment to watch and listen to this informative webinar, ‘Smarten Mobile BI.’

Original Post : Mobile BI Tools Are Not Just Nice to Have, They Are A Necessity!

Should I Choose a BI Tool with On-Premises or Cloud-Based Storage?

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January 21, 2026

Is Cloud-Based or On-Premises Data Access Best for BI Tools?

There are many considerations your business much include in a business intelligence (BI) and augmented analytics decision. When reviewing analytics software and solutions, remember that data storage and data management is a crucial decision. Ease of access, the speed of that access, dependable storage and security and other factors must be considered.

‘Scalable technology infrastructure and architecture and support for on-premises, private cloud or public cloud implementation is crucial to support future growth and enable your users with easy, secured access to information and seamless response.’

When you consider the technical foundation of the product and services, you must decide between a solution that resides on premises and one that is cloud-based.

Cloud-Based: This relies on third-party servers to support software and data and accesses information via a secured internet connections using a cloud environment, providing a flexible, scalable approach and allowing the enterprise to access software and features without using its own resources, IT support, and hardware.

On-Premises: This option uses in-house, enterprise hardware and infrastructure and businesses often choose to go this route retain control and provide assured security. It is important to note that some solutions store the BI tool in the cloud, while data is stored on premises, and this can create issues with delays and latency.

Gartner Predicts that, ‘Demand for integration capabilities, agile work processes and composable architecture will drive continued shift to the cloud.’

If you are choosing an analytics product, a business intelligence (BI) solution or augmented analytics, consider a vendor that allows you to choose between on-premises or a cloud-based approach, and provides the flexibility to change that approach without having to change your software or vendor.

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Work with your IT partner, to develop requirements and include the following factors in your requirements:

  • Business Strategy for Growth and Number of Locations and Users
  • Security and Standards Compliance
  • Ongoing Access to Technical Experts
  • Clear, Flexible Management of Data Sources, and Data Access
  • Location of the Data Sources – On Premises or Cloud
  • Affordability of Solution and Support and Maintenance Services
  • Performance, Scalability, Flexibility
  • Product and Service Support for Future Upgrade, User Needs, and Digital Transformation (Dx)

A flexible, low-code, no-code analytics platform with scalable technology infrastructure and architecture and support for on-premises, private cloud or public cloud implementation (including Amazon, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and other options) is crucial to support future growth and enable your users with easy, secured access to information and seamless response. Consult your IT partner to decide on your data storage and access approach based on data velocity, data sources and locations, data security and governance policies and your required return on investment (ROI).

The location of data sources is a paramount consideration when choosing between on-premises and cloud business intelligence. Pushing large volumes of ERP or CRM data from an on-premises location to the cloud BI tool will affect scalability and can cause delays. When considering a business intelligence solution, include a review of the architecture and data access, as well as vendor IT policies and security standards.

‘When reviewing analytics software and solutions, remember that data storage and data management is a crucial decision. Access, speed of access, dependable storage and security and other factors must be considered.’

Contact Us to discuss the needs of your organization and your users and find out more about Smarten Technology. The process of choosing the right Analytics Solution for your business is crucial and must include a careful assessment of your needs. Explore our White Paper: ‘Enabling Business Optimization And Expense Reduction Through The Use Of Augmented Analytics,’ and our article, ‘How Does Low Code And No Code Development Support BI Tools?’

Original Post : Should I Choose a BI Tool with On-Premises or Cloud-Based Storage?

Should I Choose Cloud-Based or On-Premises Business Intelligence?

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December 10, 2025

Choosing Between Cloud and On-Premises Augmented Analytics

Your business may be upgrading a business intelligence solution OR it may be considering the implementation of business intelligence (BI) for the first time. Either way, you will be faced with numerous decisions as you navigate the augmented analytics market and look for the right product and solution for your team and your organization.

Considerations include pricing, features, ease-of-use, data storage and data management location, and the capability of the solution to support upgrade and growth. When it comes to the technical foundation of the product and services, you will need to decide whether to choose a solution that resides on premises or one that is cloud-based.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this decision is advanced planning and anticipating the changing needs of the organization. If you are choosing an advanced analytics product, a business intelligence or augmented analytics solutions, you may wish to select a vendor that allows you to choose an on-premises OR cloud-based approach, with the flexibility to change your approach in the future WITHOUT having to change the software your team has adopted – the one they now understand and use on a daily basis.

On-Premises: Software is hosted onsite using enterprise hardware and infrastructure. Some businesses choose this option because they wish to retain control and provide assured security.

Cloud-Based: When a business chooses this option, it relies on third-party servers to support the software and data and accesses information via secured internet connections using cloud. This option provides a flexible, scalable approach and allows the enterprise to access software and features without the need for its own resources, IT support, and hardware expense.

Gartner Has Predicted that, ‘Demand for integration capabilities, agile work processes and composable architecture will drive continued shift to the cloud.’

On-Premises vs Cloud-Based BI Tools: Consider Your Enterprise Requirements

To choose the right solution, work with your IT partner, to consider:

  • Strategy for Business Growth
  • Industry, Government Security Compliance
  • Availability of and Access to Technical Experts
  • Ability to Easily Manage Data Sources, Data Access, etc.
  • Cost of Solution and Support and Maintenance
  • Performance, Scalability, Flexibility
  • Support for Upgrade, Future Needs, Digital Transformation (Dx)

Look for a flexible, low-code, no-code analytics platform with scalable technology infrastructure and architecture that offers on-premises, private cloud or public cloud implementation for Amazon, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and other options. Your IT consulting partner will help you decide on your approach based on data velocity, data sources and locations, data security and governance policies and your desired return on investment (ROI).

Contact Us to discuss your analytical needs and to find out more about Smarten Technology, Architecture And Infrastructure, and the process of choosing the right Analytics Solution for your business. Explore our White Paper: ‘Enabling Business Optimization And Expense Reduction Through The Use Of Augmented Analytics,’ and our free article, ‘How Does Low Code And No Code Development Support BI Tools?’

Original Post: Should I Choose Cloud-Based or On-Premises Business Intelligence?

Why on Earth Would I Want to Be a Citizen Data Scientist?

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November 12, 2025

What’s a Citizen Data Scientist and Why Should I Care?

In 2015, Gartner coined the term, ‘Citizen Data Scientist’ and since then, the data analytics community and global business markets have never looked back! The results of Citizen Data Scientists initiatives were spotty, at best, in the early days, principally because enterprises did not spend enough time planning for the roll-out and anticipating cultural, technological and resource issues.

Gartner Analysts Predict that organizations can truly benefits from implementing a Citizen Data Scientist strategy and their research reveals that ‘…citizen data scientists will surpass data scientists in the amount of advanced analysis produced, and that,  ‘Early adopters of augmented analytics have the potential to realize more strategic and differentiating business benefits from their analytics investments than those who wait until these technologies are widely adopted.’

‘With additional skills and knowledge, you become more valuable to the organization and the team and your visibility and leadership in the use of data and analytics will position you well for career advancement.’

Today, the Citizen Data Scientist community is thriving and local, regional and global businesses are reaping the benefits. But, what about the impact on business users? Are there real benefits to team members who embrace the Citizen Data Scientist role, or is it all smoke and mirrors?

The Advantages of Saying ‘Yes’ to Being a Citizen Data Scientist

Benefits for Business Users

  • Improve Your Data Literacy – If you are curious about the use of data, or you consider yourself a power user and love to learn new technology, you will be motivated and challenged by the use of data analytics and you will improve your data literacy. Any and all new skills you learn within your role in an organization can help you advance your career and keep your day-to-day tasks interesting. Today, data literacy and comfort with technology is crucial to personal and career success.
  • Expand Your Career Opportunities – With additional skills and knowledge, you become more valuable to the organization and the team and your visibility and leadership in the use of data and analytics will position you well for career advancement. Using data to make fact-based decisions and recommendations and to present options to management is a great way to get noticed!
  • Collaborate with IT and Data Scientists – Expand your reach across the organization and make your skills known by collaborating with IT and data scientists. When your day-to-day analytics is noticed, and your management team needs to advance strategic initiatives, you can collaborate with IT and data scientists to share and create the insights your team and management.
  • Add Value to the Organization – Discover and explore data and create analytical approaches and formats to share with your team members. Help the organization avoid missteps in the market, identify buying behavior, conceive new products and services and to create a competitive advantage with measurable results that will help you AND the enterprise.
‘Today, data literacy and comfort with technology is crucial to personal and career success.’

If you wish to know more about the Citizen Data Scientist approach and how augmented analytics tools and your industry and market knowledge can position you for success in this role, Contact Us today to find out how our team can help you to improve business results and increase team collaboration, data literacy, productivity and competitive advantage. Get started today with our self-paced FREE Online Citizen Data Scientist course.

Original Post : Why on Earth Would I Want to Be a Citizen Data Scientist?

Augmented Analytics Can Support a Large User Base

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November 7, 2025

Support Your Large Business User Base with the RIGHT BI Tools

According To Finance Online, Allied Market Research reports that small and medium businesses are driving enterprise use of analytics, but World Data Science Initiative reports that 80% of global companies are investing in data analytics, thereby revealing analytics growth across, small, medium and large enterprises.

For your large enterprise, data analytics can and will be a definitive issue impacting your business and market growth. Choosing the right solution to support data democratization and improved data literacy across the enterprise will ensure that your team can create, share, collaborate and report on data, make recommendations and suggestions based on fact, and use data-driven metrics to ensure that strategies and operational decisions are relevant, accurate and effective.

‘While many large organizations are daunted by the idea of implementing analytics across the organizations, it is completely feasible to plan for an deploy this software and to modify business processes to build on fact-based decisions.’

Today’s self-serve augmented analytics and modern business intelligence solutions are designed to support users across the enterprise, and a solution that is built on the right technology platforms, will enable rapid implementation and user adoption and requires very little training or transition time. Auto-suggestions and recommendations allow users to work on their own, no matter their skill levels.

To support a large user base, you will want to select an augmented analytics solution designed with a low-code, no-code, artificial intelligence and machine learning environment to ensure scalability and seamless, responsive, mobile access.

Contrary to Some Opinions, a Large Enterprise with Many Users CAN Adopt Augmented Analytics

Your team can untangle quality and maintenance issues, refine customer targeting and marketing optimization, make appropriate financial investment decisions, and even use external data to analyze trends and patterns and make forecasts and predications.

Real-time data management lets users connect to data sources in real time, and compiles data for fast performance to deliver real time analytics. Cached data management caches data and performs pre-aggregation and other computations for superior performance and analytics, and refreshes data from data sources at a defined frequency.

Your enterprise can choose on-premises or private or public cloud-based data management to access the analytics solution from any business location around the world, or for remote workers or those working on the road, in hotels or airports.

‘For your large enterprise, data analytics can and will be a definitive issue impacting your business and market growth. Choose the right solution to support data democratization and improved data literacy and use data-driven metrics to ensure that strategies and operational decisions are relevant, accurate and effective.’

While many large organizations are daunted by the idea of implementing analytics across the organizations, it is completely feasible to plan for an deploy this software and to modify business processes to build on fact-based decisions. Work with your IT partner to plan a reasonable roll-out and address cultural concerns, and to budget for and implement an affordable, dependable analytics solutions across the enterprise. No matter how many business users your business has, you CAN adopt and leverage self-serve augmented analytics to support your business, improve competitive advantage and gain crucial insight into data for planning, problem-solving and identification of trends, patterns, issues and opportunities.

Ensure appropriate Technology, skills and knowledge, Cutting-Edge Features and an advanced approach to Augmented Analytics And Business Intelligence. Contact Us to find out more about the Smarten suite of products. Explore our free white paper: ‘Enabling Business Optimization And Expense Reduction Through The Use Of Augmented Analytics.’

Original Post : Augmented Analytics Can Support a Large User Base!

Mobile BI Supports User Access and Adoption and Improves Results

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October 15, 2025

Why Adopt Mobile BI? Data Access and Data Democratization

The global business environment has changed dramatically. With employees working remotely, and even in other countries, it is mandatory to provide technology and tools your team can use to complete tasks and, hopefully, to add value to the organization on a daily basis.

If you have not yet adopted a business intelligence or augmented analytics solution, it is wise to consider one now. Your competitors are already implementing these solutions! If you HAVE adopted a BI tool or self-serve analytics solution, but you have yet to provide your team with mobile business intelligence, it is past time to consider this addition because your competitors area already implementing THESE solutions as well!

‘Out-of-the-Box Mobile BI can provide natural language search analytics, clickless analytics for quick, easy analysis, key performance indicators, dashboards and reports, dynamic charts and graphs, and intuitive visualizations, with self-serve features that are suitable for every user.’

According to Market Research Future studies, ‘The Business Intelligence market segmentation, based on Technology, includes Mobile BI, Cloud BI, and Social BI…’ This market is…’is expected to grow and expand during the projected timeframe as it will help businesses make data-driven decisions, boosting the overall market growth.’ This study estimates that the business intelligence market will grow from USD 33.12B in 2024 to USD 78.42B in 2032.

The reason for that growth is simple. Businesses, large and small, are discovering the value of fact-based decision-making, and the wise business owner, executive or manager understands that their competition is actively involved in improving productivity (to do more with less), in improving customer satisfaction (with targeted products and services), in decreasing re-work and increasing collaboration, and above all in increasing the data literacy of its team through data democratization, easy access to crucial data and improved user adoption of technology.

Access Data From Anywhere with Next Gen Mobile BI Tools for Business Users

But the old methods of BI tool installation can no longer support strategic goals. Your team may be spread across countries, regions or cities. They may work in the field. They may be meeting with a client or a supplier. Any or all of these scenarios require mobile tools that provide your team with the information they need to make the right decision, to review historical data or transactions and work with others to create a pricing strategy, check on stock, understand customer buying behavior etc.

If you truly wish to make your team more productive and effective, it is crucial to give them access to data and the information they need to do their job, no matter where they are working (in the office or remotely). Easy-to-use, self-service tools ensure user adoption and can move your team members toward a Citizen Data Scientist role, with advanced analytics that is intuitive, interactive and flexible.

Out-of-the-Box Mobile BI can provide natural language search analytics (NLP), clickless analytics for quick, easy analysis, key performance indicators (KPIs) for metrics and results, dashboards and reports, dynamic charts and graphs, and intuitive visualizations, all designed for ease-of-use with self-serve features that are suitable for every user.

With these tools, your users can easily find and analyze information, working from anywhere, at any time of the day. They will not have to guess at information, or carry copies of old reports that are no longer relevant.

‘If you have adopted a BI tool or self-serve analytics solution, but you have yet to provide your team with mobile business intelligence, it is past time to consider this addition because your competitors area already implementing these solutions.’

If you want to support your business user team and provide a foundation for BI tools that will better serve your team and your customers, explore Smarten Mobile BI benefits and features, with powerful functionality and access for your business users including out-of-the-box Mobile BI and advanced analytics for every team member. For more information on Mobile BI and Augmented Analytics, read our article, ‘Mobile BI Business Use Provides Real Advantages,’ and take a moment to watch and listen to this informative webinar, ‘Smarten Mobile BI.’

Original Post : Mobile BI Supports User Access and Adoption and Improves Results!

Citizen Data Scientists Are Important to Business Transformation

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October 7, 2025

Transform Your Business with Citizen Data Scientists

The business environment today is competitive. Whether your business is global or local, you are challenged to do more with less, to set and achieve goals more quickly and to stay ahead of your competitors by gaining a comprehensive understanding of what your customers want, what they WILL want, and how to best attract their attention and retain them.

To meet these challenges, every team member and employee must have a thorough understanding of how their roles and responsibilities fit into the grand scheme of things and how the projects, tasks and activities they pursue on a day-to-day basis will affect revenue, outcomes and results.

When a business (large or small) makes the decision to transition business users to Citizen Data Scientists, it supports the alignment of goals and objectives with fact-based decision-making and improved data literacy, encouraging its users to embrace and understand data and use that data to collaborate, present information to management and gain insight into results to identify opportunities and address issues.

‘The Citizen Data Scientist approach transforms the organization by improving time to market, reducing rework and mitigating market missteps and improving productivity and the alignment of workflow and tasks with the goals and objectives of the enterprise.’

World renowned technology research firm Gartner first coined the term ‘Citizen Data Scientist’ in 2016 and defined the role as ‘a person who creates or generates models that leverage predictive or prescriptive analytics, but whose primary job function is outside of the field of statistics and analytics.’

Nearly a decade later, the role has been refined and structured within many organizations and recent Gartner research reports that, ‘Citizen Data Scientists can be leveraged to perform repetitive and redundant tasks in the analytics workflow, and therefore create value to the organization, while allowing expert data scientists to focus on more complex tasks.’

The increased pace and tenor of competition has forced businesses to accommodate rapid change in markets and customer buying behavior by using analytics, data scientists and business analysts to work with IT and create reports and presentations to be used for decisions. But there just aren’t enough professional resources of funds to support this approach. Hence, the evolution of Citizen Data Scientists.

Transform Business Users Into Citizen Data Scientists AND Transform Your Business

The evolution of self-serve augmented analytics tools and technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and NLP search, machine learning, flexible data visualization, and artificial intelligence (AI) provide support for business users without technical skills to gather and analyze data and produce reports, collaborate with other users and make recommendations using insight derived from advanced analytics. And this approach supports data democratization and data literacy.

The Citizen Data Scientist approach also transforms the organization by allowing business users to interact with and collaborate with IT and data scientists to take day-to-day data analytics and translate them into strategic initiatives with measurable results, accurate predictions and rapid flexible processes.

The Citizen Data Scientist approach transforms the organization by improving time to market, reducing rework and mitigating market missteps and improving productivity and the alignment of workflow and tasks with the goals and objectives of the enterprise. It provides a career path for business users and advances their knowledge and skills, allowing them to understand how their role directly influences results and to create and innovate.

‘When a business (large or small) makes the decision to transition business users to Citizen Data Scientists, it supports the alignment of goals and objectives with fact-based decision-making and improved data literacy, encouraging its users to embrace and understand data.’

To plan for and execute a Citizen Data Scientist initiative, the organization must engage an expert in augmented analytics and develop a comprehensive understanding of technology and cultural changes in order to advance this new idea within the ranks of IT, data scientists, business users, managers and executives.

Learn more about how the transformation of business users to Citizen Data Scientists can benefit your business, and how technology and appropriate Self-Serve Analytics Tools can support Citizen Data Scientists in their new role, and provide fact-based decision-making and advantages to the organization. Explore our free white papers and articles: ‘The Potential Of The Citizen Data Scientist Approach And Augmented Analytics,’ and ‘Leverage Citizen Data Scientists For Business And Business Users.’

Original Post : Citizen Data Scientists Are Important to Business Transformation!

Is One BI Tool Enough or Do I Need More?

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August 27, 2025

Should I Have One, Two, Three or More BI Tools?

Whether your business wishes to implement its first business intelligence solution, or you wish to upgrade your solution to satisfy additional requirements, or your business divisions have diverse business needs, the RIGHT business intelligence and augmented analytics solution is crucial. To protect your Return on Investment (ROI) and reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), you must select a solution that will suit all your team members, and be flexible enough to grow with your organization and provide support now and in the future.

Making the Case for One vs. Multiple Business Intelligence Solutions

Gartner names 12 mandatory and common features of a comprehensive BI tool, which includes:

  1. Data visualization
  2. Governance
  3. Reporting
  4. Analytics Catalog
  5. Data preparation
  6. Data science integration
  7. Automated insights.
  8. Metrics layer
  9. Data storytelling
  10. Natural language query (NLQ)
  11. Collaboration
  12. Composability

For many businesses today, the decision can lead them down a winding path to the question: ‘Can I truly find one solution to suit all my needs and, if I can’t, is it possible to successfully combine and integrate more than one BI tool?’

Let’s take a closer look at these questions in an effort to help you understand the tradeoffs and the decision-making process.

Choosing ONE BI Tool

Benefits

  • Data Centralization – Team members can seamlessly access a single data solution
  • Provides a centralized, simplified platform for user management and access rights
  • Maintenance and Administration – The IT team has only one system to manage
  • Reporting – Dashboards and reports leverage one data model, and reporting formats and scenarios are uniform and interconnected
  • Ensures one focused, experienced IT and technical team

Challenges

  • Scalability – As your organization grows, you may have issues supporting an expanded user base and data volume
  • Performance Issues – For organizations with a large data volume, users may experience a lag in response time
  • Data Security – If your business has multiple business units, the administration of a single solution may be a challenge, as the model will require multi-layered, granular security and permissions
  • Constrains the business to one solution, with one roadmap for the future provided by one vendor

Choosing Multiple Solutions

Benefits

  • Scalability – Smaller, more modular solutions allow the organization to execute development independently without affecting other systems
  • Performance – User experience (Ux) for dashboards and reporting is likely to be better, with suitable speed and responsive dashboards and reporting
  • Support – Each independent module or solution can be supported independently without affecting other solutions

Challenges

  • Duplicate Data or Analytics – If proper architecture is not in place, the systems may duplicate data or analysis or a system may use the wrong model for reporting
  • Integration – Combining and integrating multiple systems requires a sophisticated roadmap to accommodate cross-functional reporting and analytics and data access
  • Continuity – Data mapping, distribution and consistency can be a challenge
  • User Management and Access Rights – It can be challenging to manage these processes across disparate platforms
  • Technical and IT – Multiple tools require expertise across all frameworks and platforms

These are just a few of the examples of benefits and challenges of the one vs. many approach of business intelligence solutions. While the temptation to consolidate and choose one tool can seem practical, the enterprise should consider the benefits and the challenges of each approach and compare them to their needs. Each tool may offer specific benefits that cannot be achieved by a one solution approach, and may better address user expectations and needs and satisfy the goals of the organization.

For a long time, the analytics industry has touted the idea of ‘best of breed,’ and there is a case to be made for choosing the ‘best’ for each scenario. Gartner’s most recent Magic Quadrant places 6 of 20 vendors in the niche quadrant and many of these niche vendors may offer solutions that meet a specific need within your own enterprise. So, don’t be too quick to eliminate the possibility of multiple solutions.

Many CIOs think that at standardization on one platform should always be considered at the enterprise level. While that approach has its advantages, it has lot of disadvantages too.

Advantages include:

  • One vendor, one relationship
  • Concentrated skill set within the team
  • A simple, uncluttered application landscape

Disadvantages include:

  • Commitment to one vendor (who may or may not be dependable)
  • Enterprise is confined to one vendor roadmap, limitations, upgrades and future development
  • One solution platform limits enterprise platform choices and flexibility
  • One tool may not satisfy niche or specific use cases across all divisions, departments and teams

While a one solution choice may work for a smaller organization or one without complex needs, you may wish to consider a balanced approach. When you strike a balance using a practical, limited best of breed approach, you can address the needs of specific business units or users. Be judicious about your choices, so as not to clutter the application landscape with too many applications and complicate your architecture.

You may wish to choose one solution for enterprise IT reporting, or one for smart data visualization for business users, or one that supports Citizen Data Scientists, or a tool that is focused on big data processing. Your assessments should be based on your use cases, user needs, license needs, budget, etc. While some organizations use as many as five (5) BI tools, the enterprise should limit their expansion to 2-3 tools in order to avoid chaos in integration, maintenance, the need for IT skills, costs etc.

While the assessment of needs and requirements for ANY software solution can be time consuming, it does pay off in the end and, especially if you are considering multiple BI tools, it is worth taking the time to thoroughly assess your needs so your business can create the ideal analytical landscape for IT, data scientists, business analysts and business users.

Contact Us to discuss your analytical needs and to find out more about Modern And Traditional BI Tools, Augmented Analytics solutions, Citizen Data Scientist training and the process of choosing the right Analytics Solution for your business. Explore our free White Papers: ‘Enabling Business Optimization And Expense Reduction Through The Use Of Augmented Analytics,’ and ‘A Roadmap To ROI And User Adoption Of Augmented Analytics And BI Tools.’

Original Post : Is One BI Tool Enough or Do I Need More?