Find the true value of cloud data with modern analytics
The past decade can be categorised by a sequence of extreme economic conditions. This has coincided with an ever-increasing rate of social and technical change leaving organisations no choice but to adapt rapidly and in some cases, frequently. A primary response to this adaptation has been the increased collection of data in large volumes and at high rates. To meet the changing consumer demand, a “cloud now” strategy has been adopted by many enterprises. With this, the amount of users who consume data has expanded. Instead of just executives and analysts, business users throughout organisations have come to rely on data to make decisions.
Self-service analytics have created a system where people are operating within their own insight silos, analysing their own data for tailored insight. What this means, however, is that there are large amounts of users who are unable to utilise all of the information produced as it is fractured across the organisation. Businesses must understand that getting the right answer, to the right person at the right time is paramount to success and that this answer might already exist.
With great volume comes great responsibility
Although most businesses understand their data carries immense value, most struggle to realise its full potential. This is due to the current state of analytics: while businesses have begun moving to the cloud, too many are planning to bring their legacy processes with them.
Most businesses are still stuck in traditional ways of working that have become outdated. The result is that businesses are struggling to make the most of their data as workers are spending too many hours on time-intensive tasks such as reporting. According to our study with TDWI, only one-fifth of all reports provide any value for the organisation. Old data infrastructure and data literacy are also among the top challenges for organisations and these are problems perpetuated by the reliance on the outdated systems and ways of working in place.
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The solution to this is self-service analytics, but, the resulting large volume of insight is not automatically available to everyone. As more data content is generated, finding the right insight quickly is an increasingly difficult task. This challenge must be overcome.
Rethinking the cloud experience
To tackle the problem at hand and make the most of their data, organisations must create insight efficiently while making it accessible to those who need it. Businesses need to democratise data by making the insights understandable and accessible to all, in order for it to permeate the organisation effectively. In fact, the requirement to democratise analytics was cited as the top change necessary to become more productive, efficient, and strategic in their roles by 44% of data analyst respondents in the TDWI study.
This calls for a culture shift: organisations should instil a data culture in the business, and encourage employees to use data insights to drive business decisions. But in order to do so, they must rethink their analytics solutions: they must ensure they are easy to use and personalised to each role so that employees are drawn to use them. Rethinking the experience so that analysis can be personalised across the whole employee data journey, from onboarding to data discovery and actioning insight, paired with AI analytics, will empower employees to answer questions they might have not thought to ask, and realise more value from their data.
Providing employees with the right technology to easily access and understand data content their peers have created carries immense value for organisations. Investing in a solution that makes it possible for users to not only create their own insights but surface the most relevant content others have already created will help instil a data-driven culture of support and success within the organisation. In doing so, organisations can help their employees make use of their collective intelligence, let go of outdated working practices alongside old systems, and foster an environment truly ready for the new generation of data consumers who have embraced the agility, speed, and scale of cloud analytics to power real business change.
