Since the adoption of data analytics about 15 years ago, business intelligence meant dashboard and reporting capabilities. But embedded business intelligence is changing that, helping organizations take full advantage of data.
What is Embedded BI?
When you add/embed BI software features like the dashboard, data visualization, and analytics tools straight onto your applications, you have what is called embedded BI.
EBI (or embedded BI) combines BI tools into operational systems with the aim of enabling decision-makers to make better decisions and operations to run more efficiently through the use of actionable business intelligence content.
Most business intelligence (BI) tools are designed to solve certain technical problems, like data warehousing or ETL.
BI tools can supplement or improve the way you do business, but their solution is not necessarily limited to your technical operations.
EBI is the integration of these tools into business processes. Embedded BI should be a point-and-click solution to help IT departments and business units improve operations and decision-making without major changes in their systems or processes.
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EBI can generally be achieved in two ways:
- In-house development of the solution
- Outsource to 3rd party
Advantages of Using Embedded BI
- No need to move between many platforms or user interfaces as it allows you to work with data within the same app
- Saves money since there’s no need to purchase additional tools
- Cuts down on the time taken between the generation of the data and its analysis
- Provides a much unpolluted and user-friendly experience for customers, and therein lies their major advantage over solutions that require two or more different platforms
Important Factors to be Looked at When Evaluating Implementing Embedded BI
If you are planning to buy an embedded BI solution from a 3rd party, you must keep in mind the following:
Scalability: Like any other IT or tech solution, you need to understand whether the solution is upgradable.
Eg: How many users does it allow accessing the database simultaneously?
Single/many: Is it a single solution that does all the work, or does it ask you to purchase other tools from vendors, which means more expenditure?
Customization: Is the embed BI solution you want to buy customizable? Meaning, does it allow deploying API sets, plugins, and so on.
Time factor: How long does the solution take before it is up and running? The faster the better, obviously.
Top 5 Embedded Business Intelligence Best Practices
Embedded business intelligence (BI) is a process of embedding BI capabilities within an organization’s operational systems.
Embedded BI allows users to access and analyze data as it is being entered into the system, which can improve decision-making and operations.
Here are five best practices for implementing embedded BI:
1. Establish a clear business need
2. Select the right technology
3. Train users
4. Manage change
5. Measure progress
Components of An Ideal Embedded BI Solution
An ideal embedded analytics solution must be able to:
- Allow sorting, cleaning, and formatting of data
- Provide interactive reports on one screen
- Be able to build a central data depository by extracting data from various sources
- Be able to amalgamate different data sources into a single view to allow analysis and reporting from totally unrelated sources
Different Key Performance Indicators of Embedded Business Intelligence Tool
Almost all businesses have high-level snapshots or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) according to their pre-defined measures. Such KPIs are listed below:
Customer Satisfaction Score: It indicates how a business performed to meet the expectations of a customer, and their satisfaction.
Net Prompter Score: Defines long-term growth of a company
Monthly Expansion Rate: Monitor the stability of a business as it grows, gains & retains new customers, and meanwhile compare with the past history.
EV (Earned Value) Metrics: Indicates the value produced by the company’s present projects
Choosing Correct Embedded Business Intelligence Software
Embedded business intelligence software is a great choice for companies that want to make better use of their data. However, not all embedded BI software is the same.
Here are some tips for choosing the right software:
1. Make sure the software is compatible with your existing systems
2. Look for software that is easy to use and that has a user-friendly interface
3. Choose software that is scalable and that can grow with your company’s needs
4. Choose software that is easy to install and implement
5. Look for software that has a great deal of experience with the problems you are having
6. Check to see if the software you are considering is used by many companies in your industry
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Why Application Teams Choose Embedded Business Intelligence Solutions?
Some of the major reasons for choosing embedded BI by application teams include:
- Increased user adoption rates
- Improved user experience, and customer satisfaction
- Increased revenue growth
In Conclusion
The latest Gartner, ‘Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms’ says,”…..BI software should support the complete analytic workflow from data preparation to ingestion and visual exploration.”
That is exactly what is expected of embedded BI solutions. These can work wonders for not only large enterprises but also for medium-sized ones. For the former, it delivers faster results, while for the smaller counterparts, it provides a single source of truth by merging data from disparate sources into one single dashboard.