Why the future of analytics is self-service 

Analytics is proving increasingly instrumental to modern business, because of the competitive advantage it can help generate. By replacing guesswork with hard, data-driven facts, businesses can develop more informed strategies, connect with customers better, improve their productivity, and find efficiencies that save time and reduce costs. 

Realising these benefits requires high data literacy, but many organisations struggle in this area. The Gartner Annual Chief Data Officer Survey has found that poor data literacy is the second biggest internal roadblock to success, but it’s vital to navigate the challenges involved and maximise the potential of data and analytics. 

How a lack of analytics holds business back 

If an organisation can’t access, scrutinise and interpret data in real-time, and without the need for IT or data science teams, then the lack of insights can hinder progress in several key areas: 

• Delayed decision-making: if informed decisions can’t be made quickly, then opportunities might be missed, and it becomes harder to react to changing market conditions 
• Increased dependence: when analytics can only be conducted by IT or data science teams, bottlenecks quickly emerge that slow down projects and processes 
• Reduced efficiency: both of the above points can lead to extended wait times for business users to get the data they need, which can have knock-on effects on productivity 
• Lack of a data-driven culture: without the ability to empower the whole workforce to embrace analytics, innovation is limited, and a data-driven culture can’t be embedded throughout the organisation
• Increased risk of errors: relying on other parties for data and insights can lead to mistakes being made through miscommunication or misinterpretation, which can lead to flaws in decision-making and business strategies
• Inability to leverage data: now considered a vital business asset, data needs to be leveraged entirely otherwise businesses can’t take advantage of the growth opportunities it can generate

Where are businesses going wrong?  

When trying to solve issues around data access and analysis, many organisations turn to their IT and data science teams to extract, clean and analyse data, then present reports and insights to users. However, this approach is time-consuming and inflexible, it generates bottlenecks, and is a reactive process that can’t generate insights in real-time. Such a hands-off approach also works against efforts to foster a data-driven culture. 

At the same time, many of the data-driven approaches that businesses adopt are inconsistent. They may embrace ideas like AI-driven automation in specific areas and use cases, while overlooking potential deployments in others. This piecemeal mentality can take months or even years to break out of. 

The solution: self-service analytics 

Self-service analytics is the answer to this problem; it empowers entire workforces to access, analyse and interpret data independently. It works through self-service tools that are user-friendly, without the need for advanced technical skills.  

This allows employees to autonomously get the insights they need in real-time, and make better business decisions much more quickly as a result. It also reduces the risks of bottlenecks or unsustainable burdens being placed on the IT and data science departments and allows everyone to buy into a data-driven culture. 

How SCC can help

Using the right business intelligence platforms is only one part of the successful self-service analytics story. Behind the scenes, you’ll need to have the right cloud deployment, so that the value within your data – and the insights it can generate – can be maximised. But what that looks like for you will differ from other organisations and your competitors, depending on the nature of your existing data and infrastructure, and your overarching business objectives. And that’s where SCC comes in. 

SCC works with you to identify all the tools you need for self-service analytics: managed services, expertise and support. We work closely with you to understand your requirements and existing estate, then use that information to identify the right solutions for your needs, from the business intelligence of Power BI to the advanced data science capabilities of Microsoft Fabric. That way, we can ensure you have all the data and platforms you need in the cloud, so that everyone within your workforce can generate the insights they’re looking for. 

SCC will support your organisation with integrating self-service analytics into your decision-making.