What is Self-Service BI?
With Self-Service BI you have the opportunity to analyze your company’s data independently. The evaluation with such a system is uncomplicated and quick. BI stands for Business Intelligence and is known as a tool for finance departments. With Self-Service BI, the specialist departments can now carry out the data evaluation themselves. Learn more about business intelligence and the benefits of self-service BI.
Business Intelligence: An important control tool with weaknesses in practice
In theory, business intelligence is intended to provide a company with valuable data. Through evaluations and analyses, BI makes decision-making easier for those responsible. Business intelligence has the potential to reveal a wide variety of business processes and developments in visualized reports that are easy to understand.
In practice, the process is complex, slow and has the potential for conflict. The specialist departments rarely receive the data they need as a basis for making correct decisions. In addition, they have no opportunity to carry out corresponding analyzes themselves. External analysts take over the entire process from data collection to report creation.
Controlling is responsible for creating such reports. This is where the problems begin. The specialist departments request certain reports. A certain amount of time then passes until the reports are created. These often do not correspond exactly to the desired specifications. In addition, specialist departments often have problems when there is critical feedback from outside. Accordingly, there is a natural aversion to negative reports.
If there is already a problem with communication between controlling and the specialist department, business intelligence is doomed to failure. As a company, you are wasting a lot of resources and potential for optimizing business processes.
The goals and advantages of business intelligence and controlling
Business intelligence developed from the 1960s. Business intelligence is a systematic approach to evaluating business data. Only facts serve as the basis. With the progressing Digitalization the process of data evaluation has evolved. Controlling was introduced as an independent department for the creation of data analyses.
The goal of business intelligence is to create meaningful analyzes of individual areas or company processes. They are structured based on a timeline. In this way, statements can be made about development, progress and current status. The reports are also intended to help optimize business processes.
Business intelligence is essentially a tool for decision-makers. In this way, you control the status of important business processes. At the same time, business intelligence helps create strategies for future direction. The process therefore has the potential to increase a company's efficiency, growth and profits.
What makes self-service BI different?
With a self-service BI system, you can move data evaluation from controlling to the individual departments. They then have the opportunity to carry out analyzes and visualizations of their own processes.
In contrast to central controlling, there is no need for a detour via IT. The specialist departments are usually the better contact when it comes to evaluating processes in their own area. The quality of controlling analyzes depends on the skills of the employees there. Communication with the specialist departments also plays a central role.
Self-service BI allows specialist departments to carry out smaller and larger analyzes independently at any time. This eliminates the practice of using Excel as a platform for evaluating information. The fact is that the specialist departments rely on such evaluations. If no other option is available, Excel is often used. However, this program is far too limited for in-depth analysis.
What are the advantages?
These are the most important advantages of self-service BI at a glance:
- Moving away from limited Excel evaluations
- Data analysis anywhere, at any time and on any device
- Data visualizations with high meaningfulness
- Relief for IT and controlling
- Constant access to business intelligence and data analyzes for the specialist departments
- “Out of the box” access to various data sources
- Low/No Code – Reports (almost) without programming
How does a self-service BI platform integrate into your company?
The core of Self-Service BI is software. This platform is the central hub. The software primarily takes on the following three important functions:
- Import of relevant data via interfaces
- Evaluation of the information
- Providing the analysis in an understandable and visualized form
The platform takes on these functions largely independently. The initial integration is the main task. This involves connecting to the relevant data sources via connectors. Data evaluation and data modeling occur automatically. You select the parameters using a graphical interface, allowing you to focus on specific factors.
It is also integrated into solutions for self-service BI Data visualization tools. These present the evaluated results in an easy-to-understand form, especially in graphic diagrams.
If a platform for self-service BI offers these functions, then your specialist departments have a powerful tool for data analysis. It is also important that the software is easy to use.
Modern platforms for self-service BI are usually cloud-based. This has a number of advantages. This means the platform is available to you directly without you having to put in a lot of effort to configure it. In addition, the software can then be used at any time and anywhere.
This opens the possibility for mobile analytics. Your specialist departments can then quickly create and share evaluations at any time. In times of home offices and mobile workplaces, such a platform is the optimal addition to a modern IT infrastructure.
Implement self-service BI with redIT
We at redIT offer you Self-service BI as a cloud-based solution for your company. The platform is based on Microsoft Power BI. In addition to providing the platform, our offering also includes other services.
This includes, above all, support with integration. This is one of the key challenges and the basis for effective business intelligence. This requires an interface and data source analysis.
Based on this evaluation, we connect the platform with the different data sources for you. There are over 270 data connectors available for this. It is possible to integrate both local sources and data from the cloud.
We also do customization. This includes links to business applications and individual visuals. We also train you and your employees in how to use the platform. This ensures independent and efficient use of the platform in your company.
We are available to provide you with support during ongoing operations. Through the comprehensive services we provide you, you can activate the full potential of the platform for business intelligence.
How does data evaluation work with self-service BI?
One thing that has made business intelligence so complex over the years is the growing amount of digital data. When the concept was still young, there was hardly any digital information available for evaluation. They were often compiled specifically for analysis.
The majority of modern companies now work completely digitally. All processes and procedures in the company are stored in digital form. This generates an enormous amount of data every day. In this context, we also talk about big data. The amount of digital information can no longer be evaluated using conventional means.
That's why the first task when setting up such a system is to create a data warehouse. This is a central database with information from various sources. The data is stored in a uniform format. For example, the ERP system, the online shop, Google Analytics, Excel or cloud databases serve as sources for the data warehouse.
The central data warehouse is then the starting point for the actual data analysis. The self-service BI accesses the data warehouse when your specialist departments start analyses. We at redIT set up the data warehouse for you. This is achieved via interfaces and connectors. This ensures that the database in the warehouse always receives current information from the connected systems.
Self-service BI integrates seamlessly into your IT environment
Not only is it easy to import data into the system. redIT's self-service BI system also integrates easily into the Microsoft landscape. This includes Teams or SharePoint online. In this way, employees can share the reports with colleagues. It is also possible to export individual data sets to Excel.
Internal communication can also be implemented directly via the dashboard. This makes it possible to obtain questions or feedback from the specialist departments during reporting.
How does data visualization work with Self-Service BI?
The start of one Intelligent Data Analysis including a visualization is the interesting process in self-service BI. You and your employees carry out these work steps completely independently.
The process begins with selecting data sources. A dashboard with a graphical user interface is available for this purpose. This is one of the central factors why it is so easy to use. All functions are designed for no code or low code. No programming skills are required to operate it.
The data sources are preconfigured and linked, making selection easy. This could be, for example, the sales figures for the last quarter. For the analysis, employees can then select the relevant data sets for this specific query. What may be interesting in this context are, for example, visitor numbers, conversion rates or CTR of advertising campaigns.
Ready-made templates are available for data modeling and visualization. You can also adapt these to your own needs. Bar, line, area or pie charts as well as other variants are available.
The specific process of data evaluation
Data evaluation with Self-Service BI takes place in the following three steps:
- Selection of relevant data
- data modeling
- Choice of visualization
Why is data evaluation with self-service BI so helpful?
The evaluation is carried out using artificial intelligence. In just a few moments, the selected data is available for reporting and is graphically prepared. Differences in sales figures between the current and previous months are quickly visible.
The numerous data sets make it possible to draw conclusions as to why sales figures have developed this way. This applies to both negative and positive tendencies. Data visualization also helps to uncover connections between actions. Perhaps an advertising campaign generated a lot of clicks but hardly any actual sales.
Self-service BI is ideal for making such connections visible. Data analyzes help optimize processes and decisions in your company. Since the specialist departments independently examine the processes using such a system, they can quickly make independent decisions in the future. In addition, specialist departments can carry out analyzes at short intervals because the process is very simple and quick.
redIT: We are your strong partner for self-service BI
Choose redIT as a partner, then you get a complete solution for self-service BI. We accompany you from requirements analysis through integration to support during ongoing operations.
Our business intelligence experts will set up the entire system for you. This includes the individual configuration of the data sources, the data warehouse and the data modeling. This gives you a platform that is ready to use straight away.
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In the future, your specialist departments will no longer be dependent on controlling or external help. Instead, they optimize their own work using meaningful analyzes. Are you also interested in a system for self-service BI? Use ours Contact. We at redIT will advise you without obligation on a specific concept for your company.
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