When it comes to understanding embedded BI, the operative word is definitely embedded. Embedding business intelligence tools alongside another application has a variety of use cases. The most commonly cited benefit, however, is the fact visualizations, reports, and other BI technologies can be deployed without drastic customization or programming.
For instance, if you’re building an app, you can add analytic capabilities for users by embedding BI into the user interface. This makes the app user-friendlier without dedicating a massive amount of time or resources. There are many cases in which this can be handy. But there are additional reasons to implement embedded BI that aren’t as obvious.
Here are the real advantages of embedded BI.
Foster a Data-Driven Culture
There’s a lot of talk today about how enterprises need to focus more time and resources on developing a data-driven corporate culture. While some people might dismiss this idea, there’s actually a lot of merit to this train of thought. Research firm McKinsey lays out a great explanation for this idea in “Why Data Culture Maters,” which goes into great depth about the benefits of moving your organization in this direction.
This is a major reason enterprises should aim to foster a more data-driven culture. The basis behind the concept is simple: Encouraging the use of data will lead to better decisions. It might not happen right away. But over time, as people adjust to this way of doing things, they’ll start basing more and more decisions on quantifiable evidence. Consistently doing so should lead to better business outcomes over time.
Make Apps More Useful
Embedded analytics can make an enormous difference in the utility of an application. Embedding business intelligence technologies into an app can turn something that just looks good and is easy to use into a highly functional product with quantifiable benefits. ThoughtSpot is one analytics platform helping to facilitate the next generation of embedded business intelligence technologies.
It’s now possible to embed more advanced analytics capabilities, such as AI-powered search-driven analytics, directly into apps. For starters, this further facilitates a data culture, as search-driven analytics are a prime example of data democratization at work. With this, even individuals without data expertise can run queries and get immediate actionable insights. This totally turns the old way of doing business intelligence on its head. Instead of sending off queries to the analytics team, analytics are brought to the point of need.
Increase Efficiency
As with all things in the business world, it’s crucial to think about efficiency and how to improve on it. Embedded BI answers this call by bringing business intelligence right to the point of necessity for users. But it’s also more efficient for those building applications as well.
Designing your own business intelligence tools is hard work. It’s far more efficient to embed BI technologies that already work into your app than it is to build them from the ground up. It’s also going to be much less costly to go this route, both upfront and over time. The bottom line is embedded BI can improve efficiency metrics on both the developer and consumer sides of the application equation.
There are many reasons embedded BI can be beneficial to organizations. Understanding the real advantages of embedded BI can help you leverage it to its greatest potential.
