Mobile BI Solutions are Not Created Equal: Choose the Right Vendor

Recent surveys and statistics published by Mordor Intelligence, reveal that the fastest growing market for Mobile BI is in the Asia Pacific and the largest market is in North America. The market is forecasted to achieve nearly a 23% growth over the next three years. With the introduction of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, as well as data visualization tools, designed for charting, dashboards and performance scorecards. The emergence of Big Data and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has become popular as users share, communicate and collaborate using cloud-based platforms and networks. These surveys reveal that eCommerce operation are rapidly becoming a primary market for mobile BI demand, followed closely by the banking sector. The popularity of Mobile BI usage has grown exponentially in many business sectors and industries including:

  • Telecommunications
  • Software Technology
  • Retail
  • Professional Services
  • Manufacturing
  • Healthcare
  • Financial Services

There are many Self Service Analytics providers in the mobile business intelligence market, and when a business considers solutions, it must carefully review the options, solutions, vendor services and reputation. In this article, we will discuss some of the primary considerations for features and functionality, support, upgrades, technology, etc., and we will discuss some of the possible issues and challenges.

‘Your business should be aware that there are some challenges with mobile business intelligence solutions. Be sure you review prospective solutions to ensure that there are no gaps, issues or shortcomings.’

The Definition and Evolution of the Citizen Data Scientist Role

Here are some important features to consider when reviewing self service data analytics mobile BI tools:

  • Native application with an intuitive user experience (UI) and interface
  • Compliant with Android and iOS
  • Real-Time Analytics
  • Designed to encourage user adoption with tools for team members with average skills
  • Provides support for BI investment and data democratization without the need for customization
  • Product roadmap includes plans for upgrades and technology advancement
  • Start-up is easy and support is readily available
  • Intuitive Visualization and Presentation of Data
  • Personalized Dashboards and Reports
  • Dynamic Charts and Graphs
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP) Search Analytics
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
  • Anomaly Monitoring and Alerts
  • Easy, Affordable Licensing
  • Free Downloads/Trials

A full suite of self-service analytics capabilities, mobile BI tools, modules, features and functionality is critical, but it is also crucial that your business look at its own requirements and select a solution that suits your needs.

What follows is a short list of considerations to include in your vendor and business intelligence product review so that you can match your selection to your needs:

Current Solutions (if any) vs. Requirements – If you have a business intelligence or augmented analytics solution, your team should assess how well this solution is meeting requirements. Where are the gaps, does the solution help your team meet goals and objectives? If you want to expand your business intelligence solution to include mobile BI, will the existing BI tools integrate with a mobile solution? If you are new to the business intelligence market, your requirements will be very different. Your team must assess your need for augmented analytics and mobile access, including all the issues and requirements noted below.

Business Users and Current Culture – Document the groups and individuals that will use the mobile BI tool. How many licenses or users will you need to register? What are the skills of these users? Do you have power users that can lead the charge? How will you roll-out and deploy the solution (by region, by department, in controlled user groups) to gain momentum while controlling implementation and analyzing success. What do you need to consider to accommodate existing business processes and workflows? How will mobile delivery change business processes?

Ease of Use and Intuitive Interface – What factors will determine the successful user adoption of these tools? Do you require that the solution be personalized to meet your business user needs or the needs of the organization? Can a business user with average skills navigate the solution and get results?

Technology and Integration Needs – What data repositories, current BI tools or analytics, will you integrate and make available to users? Do you need to upgrade hardware, networks, etc. to accommodate this project?

Finally, your business should be aware that there are some challenges with mobile business intelligence solutions. Be sure you review prospective solutions to ensure that there are no gaps, issues or shortcomings in these areas:

Data Governance
Does the prospective solution provide administrative tools to ensure quality and governance access for your IT team? Can they easily define access, manage dashboards, etc.

Security
In an effort to provide accessible, productive tools, businesses can sometimes expose themselves to legal risk, or privacy concerns in the form of data theft, hacking or data loss. Be sure that the vendor you choose has a demonstrable multi-layered security approach that limits access to data that a user needs, and provides controls to mitigate the risk of external threats.

Performance
To be useful, mobile BI tools must be accessible. That means that the solution must have reliable data connectivity and reliable performance, refresh rates, data transfer and display, data caching and compression, etc.

User Training and Adoption
Does the prospective vendor provide support for roll-out, user training and best practices to enable user adoption and ensure Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) goals?

The best augmented analytics solution will provide mobile BI tools that are flexible enough to adapt to your needs, without expensive customization and time-consuming fixes.

‘There are many Self Service Analytics providers in the mobile business intelligence market, and when a business considers solutions, it must carefully review the options, solutions, vendor services and reputation.’

In this article, we have defined mobile business intelligence (BI), and discussed the benefits of this type of solution, Contact Us to find out how Mobile Business Intelligence solutions can help your business achieve objectives, and explore the potential of Augmented Analytics products. Discover the features of Business Intelligence and Reporting, and download a free trial of Smarten Analytics software.

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