As data proliferates, organisations are eager to monetise and modernise their data assets by injecting outward-facing applications with reports, dashboards and self-service analytics. This type of embedded analytics can increase customer satisfaction and open up revenue streams, but in the not too distant future, will be a requirement for doing business.
From Reactive to Proactive
While earlier BI tools remained separate from other business software and applications, development of the technology is increasingly moving towards fully embedded solutions. Rather than needing to distribute an entire tool set throughout an organisation - a practice that can place heavy demands on resources and budgets - businesses are able to place relevant business intelligence (BI) assets within other business applications.
That could mean embedding an analytical graph directly into a web application, a chart onto a particular page accessible within your internal or extended network or a clear interactive visualisation into a report. Building analytical capabilities into the software that people in your organisation use every day rather than them having to access different applications. An effective way of distributing BI to areas where it was once a challenge and increasing productivity and performance.
After all, it's not just one or two departments that are able to benefit from the integration of BI - every element of your organisation stands to be improved with strategic analysis of business data.
The Future of BI
Embedded BI has become such a crucial factor in the evolution of analytics technology that it has become one of five assessment areas examined in Gartner's annual Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms. Placing data and visualisations right amongst the relevant applications offers a new level of contextual analytics, promoting actionable insight without ever needing to switch to another tool.
It's a further step in the right direction for self-service analytics that can help to streamline operations and processes, and ultimately lead to more accurate forecasting and better results.
One of the most exciting developments in the Qlik Sense platform - Qlik being one of just only three solutions considered a leader in Gartner's 2016 Magic Quadrant - is the ability to access a rich library of embeddable, completely interactive visualisations for your data using standard and modern open API's. These can then be embedded within any web portal or application to engage your different users. So disseminating your valuable data and insight throughout the organisation is easier than ever before.
Once you have the education and experience required, you'll be embedding useful data into your core applications in no time. For the best assistance available, reach out to our team, we'd be happy to help, otherwise for more on embedded analytics, this Eckerson Group report "Embedded Analytics: The Future of BI" is helpful in assessing platforms that provide embedded analytic capabilities.
