A recent EY– Forbes Insights research report clearly shows the value organisations get from the strategic use of data; the most mature respondents of its survey were found to be considerably more likely to enjoy growth in revenues and operating margins of 15% or more, along with significant improvement in their risk profile. No wonder all areas of the business are looking to data to support their drive for modernisation and transformation.
A challenge is that across the organisation there are many different requirements being placed on a company’s data – and until now access to analytics was reserved for either the data scientist or business users needed significant IT support, just to get a limited set of standardised set of reports run at set times.
So how can an enterprise make sure all these demands are met with the right data at the right time and in the right format, giving each department and job function the ability to use data they need – in short, how can we facilitate the age of self service?
Let’s take two examples of how requirements can differ, and why opening up an organisation’s data to self service should be a priority.
It is often the Marketing department that is the first to harness data driven technologies and tools. Those that are the most mature and comprehensive in their use of analytics, as compared to their peers, have been shown to gain a 56% greater return on marketing investments, and 10 times greater year on year increase in annual revenue. Common initiatives focus on seeking cross channel insights, better targeting of customers in real time with the next best offer, improved customer engagement and ultimately demonstrating how their actions contribute to the bottom-line.
Other areas of the business are also turning to data for help; take HR, for example. Similar to Marketing, companies advanced in employing workforce analytics consistently outperform competition, increasing revenue per employee by up to 26% and being 2.5 times more likely to improve their leadership pipeline. They are looking for analytics to help them identify the employee skills and strengths that will help make an impact on business performance, understand workforce challenges, and better align people strategies with business strategies, so that they can more easily attract, nurture, and retain top talent.
While the business roles, goals and use of data are different, there are common themes: the need to use multiple data sources, present data visually in a simple and easily understandable way, and demonstrate business impact. To deliver on these business goals, enterprises must empower staff to self service data so that they can be met without the need for expensive, time consuming and sometimes restrictive technical or IT support.
What does this mean in terms of how data should be handled and distributed in an organisation? How can the age of self service data be made a reality?
A driving force for democratising data in the workplace is the cloud. Making enterprise class analytics available to all and from anywhere, quickly and cost-effectively, it is also bringing new and powerful visualisation technologies into the hands of the business user.
Able to be deployed as a hybrid solution, new cloud-based analytics capabilities can be linked to data sources which can remain either in place, on-premises, in the cloud or a mixture of on-premises and the cloud, giving massive flexibility. It helps organisations quickly and easily dip a toe in the water and test out the cloud or undertake a managed transition, thereby avoiding a “big bang” approach. Given that most companies have multiple legacy systems at different stages of their lifecycle, it enables them to gain maximum value from past investments.
Gaining maximum value from these new investments is also key. With cloud, it can be all too easy for the different departments to go out and buy in a SaaS solution. This can lead to there being different solutions in place across the company that do not work together and as a result create new data silos. As the true value of data is gained, when it can be pooled so that everyone can access it and unexpected correlations made, it is essential that IT has a part in the implementation of these new solutions. That way the entire organization’s analytics needs can be catered for and underpinned by a platform for success.
The age of self service data is a business need today. The key is to look across the business at each job role or line of business and seek to understand their different requirements will evolve for the future, not just today. This approach will also lead IT to be an enabler for an organisation that maximises value from data in unique and impactful ways.