Using Embedded Analytics to Improve Your Business Outcomes

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Business Outcomes

Most people know the analytics team is important to helping organizations make better decisions. Thanks to embedded analytics, however, insights and visualizations can be brought to dashboards throughout a company. Here are some ways using embedded analytics can improve your business outcomes. 

Grow Beyond Spreadsheets

There are tons of applications for spreadsheet organization tools, such as Excel. Being proficient with spreadsheets has been a desirable trait in the workforce for years. But embedded analytics takes the utility of spreadsheets to a far more functional level, even for those without expertise.

Many enterprises use spreadsheets to track key performance indicators (KPIs), analyze data, and, ultimately, create visualizations. Embedded analytics, however, has the potential to reduce the manual work required to create a useful product, while also enhancing effectiveness. When done well, embedded analytics incorporates real-time data — updating visualizations as you go. In most cases, this is a more efficient approach than relying on spreadsheets. You also lower the potential for user error, which can lead to wasted time and resources.  

Reduce Bottlenecks in the Decision-Making Process

Time is valuable. This is particularly true in the business world, where you’re in a constant battle against the clock. If you’re slow to market with the best products and services, someone else is going to beat you to it. Incorporating embedded analytics into organizational workflows is an ideal way to reduce the friction between planning and execution. 

This starts with creating analytics dashboards that serve a higher purpose. Employees will be able to greatly speed up the decision-making process if they have access to information that allows them to do so. There are a couple main ways this can work out to benefit the organization. 

First, it creates bottlenecks when all data queries need to be run past the data team. Not only does this overwhelm them with lower-level problems, they have less time to spend on greater picture issues. Putting power in the hands of regular employees to run their own basic analyses can create a vastly more efficient system. 

Boost User-Friendliness and Data Democratization

All tools should be made with the user in mind. Embedded analytics solves a few problems that have traditionally gotten in the way of employees being able to get the most value out of data. For one, embedded analytics is far more user-friendly than more traditional business intelligence options. 

Spreadsheets have already been mentioned, but these are child’s play compared to more complex BI and analytics tools. Fortunately, people are starting to see the value of using data throughout an organization, as opposed to merely within certain teams. Doing this allows for quantitative gains to be made in areas that have been left out in the past — particularly as related to employees lacking experience working with data. 

When data insights are available to more people within an enterprise, it creates more opportunities for improving operations, even if it’s on a micro level. Additionally, this can go a long way toward fostering a culture of data within a company, which means analytics can find its way into more aspects of the business. 

Along those same lines, the CEO doesn’t need to see the exact same numbers as a junior sales rep. While that’s an extreme example, the principle holds across the board. Give people information specifically relevant to their jobs, so they’re not inundated with data that isn’t helpful to them. Within that though, it’s also wise to afford people the ability to run their own ad hoc analyses, with the organization determining which employees need these permissions. 

Monetize Data

In many cases, an organization’s data can be more valuable than the company itself. They can tap this potential with embedded analytics, 

As you can see, there many applications for embedded analytics in the modern enterprise. With this in mind, take some time to consider how you can implement the technology to improve your business outcomes. 

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