Children of the 1980s undoubtedly remember that classic ending line from the “G.I. Joe” animated series: “And knowing is half the battle!” That belief is one of the driving forces of business intelligence (BI). Since the days of G.I. Joe, BI has steadily grown, and is rapidly maturing and bringing with it an array of new uses, such as data management.
Organizations are looking for better ways to put BI to work, and as such, BI is becoming directly embedded in a lot of organizations’ standard operations. Embedded BI is on the rise, and that brings with it a lot of change in everyday operations. Smart Data Collective recently took a look at just what kind of impact this new concept was going to have in operations, and as it turned out, the potential impact was staggering.
While BI doesn't strictly need to be embedded into operations directly—indeed, stand-alone BI systems do have purposes as well—adding BI and data management to operational systems helps provide new perspective for users, a better idea of how not only that operation fits into the organization as a whole, but even, to some degree, how it works with the wider market. Embedded analytics tools open up the floor to more users, and allow more users to see what's going on in the field without having to put a lot of limits on just who can get in. If data is more readily accessible, more of the business can proceed in the same direction, instead of just going in the direction the business was last told to move in by the higher-ups in the field. Plus, budget justification can also be simpler, as departments can tailor budgets around areas in which the company itself is moving.
Even customers can get in on the improved data, seeing where a company is going and potentially even offering input from there, which has several key benefits of its own. Customers who believe that said customers have an impact on a company's overall decision making processes are likely ready to stick with that company, believing that the company cares about the input of customers. If a customer believes that he or she is with the business that has his or her best interests at heart, the thought of proceeding to a competitor just doesn't enter the picture. Plus, with new trends emerging in the business community as a whole—like moves toward self-service operations and data discovery—the importance of embedded BI measures will only climb from there.
Of course, as is commonly the case here, we're dealing with something of a future technology, and that generally means there's some wiggle room here in terms of potential accuracy. It may take some time for embedded BI to reach its full magnitude, and it may come in fits and starts. But the idea that making more data available to the organization as a whole is a good thing is certainly a valid idea. It helps when everyone's rowing in the same direction, so to speak, and the only way to do that is to give everyone an idea of just where the company is rowing to. Indeed, knowing is half the battle, and embedded BI is the kind of thing that can make that half a lot easier to win.
Edited by Alisen Downey