Nearly all companies in today’s world have one common goal: keeping the user experience simple. This reduction in size, steps, and clicks does not mean the technology is any less sophisticated — in fact, it’s just the opposite. In relation to data, self-service data analytics solutions enable users of all skill levels to independently access, query and analyze company data.
The following is an excerpt from our eBook, A guide to self-service business intelligence where we outline the benefits of using an intuitive program to easily analyse your business data.
Self-service data analytics
Many people still have an inherent fear of data and analytics, and for good reason: the majority of the solutions developed for data management and analysis aren’t known for being accessible or user-friendly.
Self-service analytics can be loosely defined as data analytics for non-technical users. Before self-service analytics, data analysis required the IT department to collect and store data and generate reports to be reviewed by analysts. By contrast, today’s self-service analytics enables all users to perform analysis and generate reports empowering users in any role to quickly make informed decisions based on the facts.
Benefits of self-service data analytics
A solution designed with the end- user in mind should include the following elements:
Mobile accessibility
The ability to compete and remain relevant is critical to a company’s survival. With mobile access to data, managers and team members are able to track sales KPIs, monitor inventory levels, and keep an eye on production while on-the-go, using a smartphone or tablet. The ability to quickly make fact-based decisions ensures companies are able to keep up with the speed of business.
Easy to read
The ability to draw insight and take action is dependent on data that is presented clearly in an easy-to-understand format. A self-service analytics solution should enable users to create customized dashboards for viewing relevant information in real-time.
A single source of truth
Oftentimes, data is stored in a variety of databases and silos. When users access data from disparate sources, the data can be fragmented and mistakes are made. The ability to trust data is essential to data-driven decision making. A self-service analytics solution will funnel data from your various sources into one single source so everyone has access to the same truth.
Role-based
Self-service analytics should offer customizable, role-based access for individual users. This ensures that users can query and explore the data relevant to their positions. This also prevents your warehouse team from accessing company financial information, or your sales team from having to weed through rebates data to find customer sales reports.
Phocas is a global leader in self-service data analytics. Phocas is designed for users of all skill levels, empowering them with relevant sales, forecasting, inventory, pricing, profit margins, and other data to make decisions that will improve their individual and company performance. Phocas self-service analytics gives anyone, from the sales rep to the CEO, the ability to ask and answer questions about their data.
Phocas is the clear leader in Gartner's Front Runner Best BI software, a review of BI software end-users. The gap in performance between Phocas and the other software products was particularly noticeable in two KPIs: customer satisfaction and usability.
To learn more about being more in control of your business data with self-service data analytics, download our eGuide: A guide to self-service data analytics.
