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Embedded Analytics: The Secret to Promoting Information Democracy

insightsoftware -
May 18, 2022

insightsoftware is a global provider of reporting, analytics, and performance management solutions, empowering organizations to unlock business data and transform the way finance and data teams operate.

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What is embedded analytics? One element that rings true in the world of analytics is that it is everchanging. Chief Data Officers and business leaders must stay abreast of key trends so their organizations don’t miss out on its benefits. A relatively new buzzword in the embedded analytics arena was coined by thought leader Howard Dresner, who serves as Chief Research Officer of Dresner Advisory Services. This soon-to-be popularized term is known as “information democracy” and is defined as follows:

Support all users with timely and actionable insights to inform tasks/activities
and foster alignment with the mission and strategy of the organization.

Pioneers in analytics are adopting the latest and greatest techniques in their field, so they can ensure that their companies reach information democratization. The core premise is that no one should be left out. Whether a programming guru or newbie to Excel, every knowledge worker requires information at their fingertips to advance and succeed.

It’s good to know where your organization stands in comparison to others in terms of embracing information democracy. Dresner Advisory Services conducted a comprehensive survey to further their understanding. Read on to learn how to embrace information democracy to take your business to the next level.

The Pathway to Information Democracy

You can still learn how to promote information democracy if your organization hasn’t made it there yet. The first step in achieving this goal is developing data literate users. Howard points out that organizations, “that are leveraging embedded BI have much better data literacy levels. The reason being is that if you want to increase data literacy levels, you need to get the data and analytics out there. The more access, the more comfortable your users will be over time.”

Howard explains further that the answer to increasing the comfort level and fluency amongst all users, regardless of job title or rank, is to “get the data out there.” This is not reserved to training alone. Data and analytics should be easily accessible so that users can touch and feel it. They need context or frame of reference to really get good at it. The end result will be an improvement in skills as these relate to viewing, understanding, creating, and combining data.

Organizations were asked about their objectives for embedded BI and presented a choice of eight responses in the Dresner Advisory survey. Interestingly, these internal-facing objectives all relate to accessibility of data. The most popular objectives include “improved self-service,” “broaden access to internal users,” and “enhance access to existing reports/analyses.”

Putting Information Democracy into Practice with Analytics

If you want data-literate users, you need analytics. All users, regardless of skill set or job title, should adopt some level of fluency and comfort in creating and viewing data analysis and charts. Logi’s Director of Product Marketing, Suzanne Ryan recognizes that the overall importance of embedded BI remains in a range between “important” and “very important” to many organizations. She understands how analytics can level up your users. Suzanne hones in on the top two drivers to the successful adoption of analytics among the widest spectrum of users: customizable analytics and contextual experiences. She educates on how to use these to jump on the bandwagon to exceptional UI.

While in theory, you can understand why data literacy is helpful for promoting information democracy, how can your business actually achieve this end goal? The answer is simple. A robust embedded analytics solution, like Logi Analytics, will lead all types of end-users to level up their data literacy. A customized analytics experience is precisely what is needed to empower employees in every department.

Let’s look at self-service analytics, a capability that is growing in use and demand across industries worldwide. These BI tools allow business professionals to query data and generate reports on their own, independent from IT departments. Granting people the power to perform tasks themselves is hugely gratifying. It is the true path to increased confidence and responsibility. The knowledge delivered at your individual screen is a powerful benefit.

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Final Thoughts

Embedded analytics solutions can help stimulate data literacy within your organization, and most importantly propel the achievement of information democracy. If you want to learn more about where the industry currently stands on this and how to give end-users more access to their data, watch this recent webinar with Howard and Suzanne.

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