How to choose the right modern BI platform
The transition to a self-service-based, modern BI model requires IT to adopt a collaborative approach that includes the business in all aspects of the overall program.
This transition often involves choosing the right modern analytics platform. During this selection process, both the business and IT should assess each platform’s ability to execute on the modern analytics workflow.
The modern analytic workflow is a cycle of five inter-related key areas, as shown below:
IT enables this workflow, but it is primarily driven by business users and analysts throughout the organization. And its successful implementation requires collaboration and participation from all roles.
In order to select a modern BI platform that can be adopted and widely deployed, organizations should consider the platform’s value for each phase of this workflow from the perspectives of the IT/BI professional, the content creator, and the information consumer.
As organizations begin the transition from a traditional top-down approach driven by IT to one based on self-service, it is often advantageous for IT (or a centralized BI team) to develop an initial set of trusted data sources and analytics content. Business users can then access and use this content as a starting point for their analysis.
Over time, as users are encouraged to ask and answer their own questions as part of the modern analytics workflow, the domain of available trusted content will grow organically. Users will have access to a wider range of analytics content for self-service.
Your platform of choice should enable IT/BI professionals responsible for the administration of the centralized environment where analytics content is stored and maintained, and data sources are administered and monitored. It should also address the needs of your information consumers who drives the specific usage requirements and parameters.
The interact phase is an extension of the initial access-and-view phase of the analytics workflow. It offers information consumers need to perform guided analysis of available content within predetermined fixed boundaries as set by the content publisher.
This phase spans a broad spectrum of user needs, and it is imperative that the platform seamlessly addresses these needs. This phase is of particular significance in the workflow as it differentiates data–visualization tools used to build charts from rich visual-analysis tools that use visualizations as the primary metaphor for analysis.
As users interact with dashboards and generate new questions, users will inevitably encounter barriers and roadblocks as they reach the limits of the guided experience offered by existing dashboards. When this occurs, users require a self-driven, autonomous framework for asking and answering new questions that have emerged.
Users of all skill levels must be able to visualize as they analyze and access the analytics capabilities of the platform while in the flow of analysis without having to move to a different module or product in the suite.
