Blog Landing

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<p>The past few years have been challenging for most organizations, and Sisense is certainly no exception. With the global pandemic and its social, economic, and political upheaval, it has taken significant focus, energy, and effort to keep forging ahead to deliver on our vision of infusing analytics everywhere.</p>
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<p>So, it was great to see our Visionary position in the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms.</p>
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<p>For those of you who are not familiar with them, a “Magic Quadrant provides a graphical competitive positioning of four types of technology providers in markets where growth is high and provider differentiation is distinct.” Each report comes with a Magic Quadrant graphic that depicts a market using a two-dimensional matrix that evaluates vendors based on their Completeness of Vision (the horizontal axis) and Ability to Execute (the vertical axis). </p>
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<p>And we have some theories about why Sisense fared so well. First, we rebranded our product line last year to Sisense Fusion. This reflected our laser focus on embedding analytics deeply into our customers’ products, employee-facing apps and workflows so everybody, not just data scientists and engineers, can quickly and easily access actionable insights to improve the ways in which they work. </p>
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<p>But we didn’t just talk-the-talk. We walked-the-walk with concrete solutions delivering on our vision. </p>
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<p>Last summer, for instance, not only did we embed analytics into business workflows, applications and external (OEM) products, we also delivered transformational new methods for infusing data and insights.  We announced the <a href="https://www.sisense.com/press-release/new-sisense-extense-framework-empowers-customers/">Sisense Extense Framework</a>, an architecture enabling organizations to embed native, AI-driven analytic experiences - not just charts and dashboards - directly within their products and the applications their workers use all day long. As a part of that announcement, we also introduced no-code integrations which embed analytics into common business productivity tools, including Slack, Salesforce, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. Later in the year, we followed up with <a href="https://www.sisense.com/press-release/sisense-unveils-sisense-notebooks-for-advanced-analysis/">Sisense Notebooks</a>, a notebook-style code environment within Sisense Fusion Analytics that empowers data analysts to conduct advanced analysis using Structured Query Language (SQL) and Python and share results with business users. We also continued building out the composability aspects of our microservices-based architecture, which can be used to embed analytics capabilities, such as interactive visualization and natural language query (NLQ), within composed analytic application experiences for better decision making.  </p>
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<p>We believe all of this undoubtedly contributed to Sisense’s Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision.</p>
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<p>And we will continue heading in this direction because we believe every business recognizes the importance of integrating BI and analytics into their products for their employees and their customers. Yet studies we’ve seen indicate less than 30% of organizations are successful with their analytic solutions. We think that’s because most companies remain mired in limited approaches to data and analysis that rely on the decade-old models of embedded dashboards and self-service BI.</p>
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<p>Sisense is going beyond those models – beyond dashboards – to realize the vision of data-informed products and decisions made in context with data, by delivering an AI-driven analytics cloud platform that infuses intelligence at the right place and the right time, every time. We believe that’s the reason for being positioned as a Visionary in the current Gartner Magic Quadrant. </p>
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<p>We encourage you to read the report here to see what you think. </p>
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 <a class="action-btn " href="https://sisense.com/reports/gartner-magic-quadrant-2022">Read Report</a> 
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<p><span class="underline">Disclaimer and Attributions</span><br />
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Gartner® Magic Quadrant™is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.</p>
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<p>Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.</p>
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<p>GARTNER and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.</p>
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Sisense a Visionary in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and BI Platforms

<p>In our latest Sisense release, we came out with the first iteration of Notebooks, a new way to perform ad hoc analysis on disparate datasets, develop powerful charts that tell your data’s story, and provide users with a single platform for both in-depth analysis and BI that preserves data security and integrity. Read on to learn more about Notebooks and get answers to the most common questions people ask, straight from our Director of Product Management, Pat Bhatt.</p>


<p><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt;Reveal deeper intelligence from your data with Python and R</strong></p>


<p><a class="action-btn " href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/deep-data-exploration-advanced-analytics-and-insights-using-python-and-r/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn how</a></p>


<p><strong>Matt Madden (MM): Pat, can you give a short introduction to what Notebooks is and why it’s being integrated into Sisense Fusion Analytics?</strong></p>


<p><strong>Pat Bhatt (PB):</strong> The Notebooks functionality empowers data analysts with the tools they need to conduct advanced analysis using SQL, Python, and R. With Notebooks, users can query data from any data source, visualize results in custom charts, or even take analytics further using procedural code before visualization. In addition to visualization, outputs can be materialized or serialized to any destination, including cloud data warehouses.</p>


<p>Notebooks helps boost data analyst productivity with integrated workflows, source control, advanced security, and much more.</p>


<p><strong>MM: What customer pain points are we trying to solve with Notebooks?</strong></p>


<p><strong>PB: </strong>One huge pain point Notebooks solves is that self-service tools do not answer all questions for the data analyst; particularly, semantic models can limit the type of questions business users can ask. Notebooks allows analysts to orchestrate information with custom queries using windowing functions, common table expressions, and other advanced tools to glean more complex insights from datasets with high accuracy and precision.  </p>


<p>All the analysis and insights a company needs may not be achievable through SQL alone. For example, to perform predictive analysis or time-series analysis, procedural code is required. By allowing the SQL results to be processed with Python and R, analysts are empowered with significantly greater analytical capabilities.<br />
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Notebooks also makes it very easy to process and reuse data. For instance, users can create materialized views wherein data is acquired, cleansed, curated, and enhanced, and later becomes part of another analytics workflow where it’s repeatedly used. This saves users tons of time in the long run versus performing these steps over and over again every time.<br />
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Analysts also struggle with disconnected source control and version management tools. Notebooks solves this with Git (or other version control systems) integration.</p>


<p>Additionally, data experts know that there are hundreds of different chart types, including Sankeys, box plots, and others that are popular in the market. Notebooks supports custom JavaScript chart types as well as Python and R chart types available through Matplotlib, SeaHorn, GGPlot, and many others.</p>


<p>Notebooks also makes collaboration with fellow analysts easy by allowing in-app sharing: Charts developed via Notebooks can be saved to dashboards or embedded into webpages like any other Sisense output. Notebooks also makes it easy for analysts to access cloud resources through libraries such as Boto/AWS, GCP, and others.  </p>


<p><strong>MM: What’s unique about what Notebooks brings to the market?</strong><br />
<strong>PB: </strong>The market is full of tools that offer fragmented workflows and manual procedures, compromising productivity, accuracy, and security. Notebooks offers an integrated workflow, so that the analyst goes from model design to advanced analysis to visualization to source control, all in one location, and with the highest degree of data security. </p>


<p><strong>MM: What are some of the key features in Notebooks?</strong><br />
<strong>PB:</strong> Key features include SQL to charts, SQL to Python/R to charts, materialization, version control for charts and source code, advanced library management allowing custom Python packages such as Boto, SeaHorn, scikit, and TensorFlow, among others, to be imported. The Sisense platform additionally offers a rich set of features including caching, modeling, SSO, APIs, security and control, and plug-ins. We are starting with SQL Notebooks in Q2 and should be ready for GA in Q3 of 2021.</p>


<p><strong>MM: What is Sisense Fusion Analytics, and how does Notebooks fit into Sisense Fusion Analytics?</strong></p>


<p><strong>PB:</strong> Sisense Fusion Analytics offers self-service capabilities as well as tools for data analysts, so any type of intelligence may be gleaned from business data. Notebooks fills a huge gap with self-service tools by allowing for integrated custom analysis. </p>


<p><strong>MM: How does Notebooks allow teams to better work together?</strong></p>


<p><strong>PB:</strong> Teams may work on specialized activities such as modeling or advanced analysis with queries, all in a single environment. Furthermore, source and access control allow teams to rest assured that productivity and collaboration remain high while keeping each analyst's work separate. </p>


<p><strong>MM: Is it important to have one single platform for all of these aspects involving analytics? Why?</strong><br />
<strong>PB:</strong> In a very fast-paced and dynamic business environment, delays in data processing or the acquisition of insights make the difference between a win and loss. Fusion Analytics delivers an integrated, end-to-end decision-making platform to help not just succeed, but thrive in this decision economy. Fusion Analytics offers speed, flexibility, and the ability to acquire deep insights quickly and easily for all stakeholders in the enterprise. </p>


<p><strong>&gt;&gt;&gt;Reveal deeper intelligence from your data with Python and R</strong></p>


<p><a class="action-btn " href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/deep-data-exploration-advanced-analytics-and-insights-using-python-and-r/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn how</a></p>


<p><strong><em>Matt Madden</em></strong><em>, Sisense’s Senior Director, Go to Market, has over 20 years of experience in the data and analytics market. He’s held roles in sales and marketing, all with the goal of helping organizations make better decisions with their data.</em></p>


<p><strong><em>Pat Bhatt</em></strong><em> is Director of Product Management, Cloud Analytics, at Sisense. He has over 20 years of experience in product management and innovation in the tech space, having led product management at Model N, SkyNovus, Intuit, and Silicon Valley Bank.</em></p>

Spotlight on Sisense Notebooks: A New Code-First Approach to Analytics

<p>In a world of rapid technological change, digital tools for marketers are having a moment. Marketing technology tools (also referred to as MarTech tools) have multiplied from about 150 in 2011 to around 8,000 today, a 5,233% increase that sends a clear message: Marketers are embracing digital assistance and data/analytics. The average enterprise now uses 120 cloud-based marketing tools (according to chiefmartec.com); in many companies, marketing departments are the heaviest users of cloud services.</p>


<p>This explosion in marketing teams turning to technology to support their efforts was already underway by the time COVID-19 emerged, but the changes forced by the pandemic only pushed it further, faster. A Twilio study of 2,569 companies found that the pandemic accelerated their digital communication strategy by an average of six years.</p>


<p>What does this mean for marketing and for marketers? According to Scott Brinker, editor of ChiefMarTec.com and VP of platform ecosystem at HubSpot — and often called the “godfather of MarTech” — digital tools may obviate human work in some discrete areas, but in most cases they will enhance humans’ marketing efforts, not replace them. </p>


<p><strong>The right data is the key to a successful growth marketing program.</strong></p>


<p><a class="action-btn " href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/data-driven-growth-marketing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn how</a></p>


<h2>Becoming better marketers with data</h2>


<p>Simply put, marketers can leverage new technologies to become better at their jobs. Scott believes that humans will continue to play the central role in marketing, with their efforts assisted in meaningful ways by AI-empowered tech. Scott has dubbed this new breed “augmented marketers.” Human thinking will revolve around creating and controlling models, since applying analytical judgment about how and when to use models is still a uniquely human ability.</p>


<p>Scott sees the current decade as “<a href="https://cdn.chiefmartec.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/martech-2030-brinker-baldwin.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">the age of the augmented marketer</a>.” That’s because these software tools are reaching a critical mass that allows an individual to single-handedly enhance marketing in substantive ways — creating, analyzing, and iterating on their marketing outreach, and empowering them to reach new levels and speeds of innovation.</p>


<p>“We know in marketing that one of the most powerful ideas is experimentation,” Scott told Sisense. “You have to have the ability to experiment with ideas quickly and cheaply. What has held that back is that the gap between idea and implementation has been a real bottleneck for how much experimentation can happen.”</p>


<h2>Powering up the marketing toolkit</h2>


<p>The key to experimentation in marketing is the growth of “no code” tools — software that people without deep technical knowledge or skills can use to create applications and dig into data in ways that previously required specialists.</p>


<p>“The tools that they have right at their own desk let them do things that, frankly, not too long ago would have required so many different people,” said Scott. “‘I have to send this to the designers.’ ‘I have to send this to data scientists.’ The cases where you don’t need to do that are growing.”</p>


<p>Here are a number of ways that AI tools can augment marketers’ efforts without getting technical professionals involved: </p>


<ul>
	<li><strong>Targeting content:</strong> Using data about customer behavior, marketers can personalize content to engage various audience groups and do creative content planning.</li>
	<li><strong>Personalizing ads: </strong>Marketers can use analytics tools to target ads to particular customers, speaking more directly to each audience and enhancing connection.</li>
	<li><strong>Parsing metrics:</strong> Marketers can use real-time data about how their audiences are receiving their content to inform strategic and creative decision-making.</li>
	<li><strong>Translating for global markets:</strong> AI translation tools can broaden marketers’ audiences and allow better penetration into global markets. </li>
</ul>


<p>“We’re leaning on more and more machines to help us identify patterns or anomalies,” said Scott. “Machine learning and AI isn’t at a place where the software knows automatically what to do about that pattern or anomaly. But it can serve it up to the human, who will say, ‘Oooh, interesting!’”</p>


<h2>Cultivating a strategic approach</h2>


<p>Omnichannel outreach is one area of marketing where AI-enabled tools are game changers. Some 92% of enterprise decision-makers surveyed by Twilio say their organization is very or somewhat likely to expand digital communication channels post-pandemic. And more than half already added new marketing channels during the pandemic. </p>


<p>Data and analytics tools are essential for marketers looking to improve performance because increasing marketing channels is difficult to do manually. But increase channels, they must! In today’s digital-first marketplace, businesses must figure out how to market on more channels or get left behind. </p>


<p>“Channels just continue to pop up all over the place,” said Scott. “I spend pretty much all day, every day, just trying to pay attention to all the new innovations that are happening in marketing and tech, and I can’t even keep up with them.”</p>


<p>This pace of change means it’s a mistake to try to market through all or most channels at once. Start by thinking through what matters most strategically to your business and customers, then put 90% of your effort into those things. The right marketing analytics will help humans understand where they’re seeing the most ROI on their efforts and double down on those. </p>


<h2>Joining human discernment and targeted power</h2>


<p>It’s the humans in the “augmented marketer” equation who will get to choose how to best deploy the exciting new tools. In such a fast-changing and turbocharged field, it’s easy to feel as if you have to leverage every tool available. But a better strategy is figuring out how to direct your energy strategically. </p>


<p>“Try not to be overwhelmed about it; I assure you that every single person I talk to feels that overwhelm,” said Scott. “It’s not you; it’s the industry. There is so much happening. Go back to those principles of really focusing on a small number of things that can have a big impact.”</p>


<p>Big impact, after all, is the end goal of augmented marketing. Joining your human discernment with the targeted power of marketing analytics tools gives you the ability to do remarkable things. Once you embrace this new approach, your marketing will never be the same. </p>


<p><strong> The right data is the key to a successful growth marketing program.</strong></p>


<p><a class="action-btn " href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/data-driven-growth-marketing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn how</a></p>


<p><em>Writer <strong>Katherine Gustafson</strong> has over ten years’ experience covering a wide array of topics for Visa, Adobe, the World Wildlife Fund, and more. Her work appears in TechCrunch, Slate, Forbes, Business Insider, and Huffington Post, among others.</em></p>

Welcome to the Era of the Augmented Marketer

Editor’s picks

<p>Since 1770 when Britain's James Hargreaves patented his spinning jenny that allowed a single spinster to run eight spindles and produce eight times as much raw thread and yarn as before - cutting both time to market and labor expense involved with producing textiles in Blackburn, Lancashire - doing more with less has been the driving force behind growing a business.</p>


<p>This productivity remains an elemental economic force - with a decisive effect on profit.</p>


<p>In our modern economy, software applications measure linear-feet equivalents of today's "thread and yarn." Such raw, furnished data, unlike cotton or wool fibers, begs translation, comparison, and analysis. Consequently, every team lead needs an agent by which to see, interpret and act on that data.</p>


<h2>The Dashboard - 3 Types for Business</h2>


<p>And that's what dashboards – imperative to business intelligence software – do. Of course, dicing and splicing that data constitutes a need for tailored dashboards, of which three types are recognized:</p>


<ul>
	<li><strong>Strategic</strong> - aggregates critical, overarching metrics, presenting a 10,000-foot view of a business.</li>
	<li><strong>Analytic</strong> - gathers and compares particular metrics across time and many variables, drilling down to actionable data per team.</li>
	<li><strong>Operational</strong> - monitors data in real time, alerting a team to any issues that need to be addressed.</li>
</ul>


<p>Regardless of a dashboard's purpose, it should reflect a company's particular needs and culture, displaying <a href="https://www.sisense.com/kpi-library/">Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)</a> based on a firm's high-level (and/or low-level) objectives. These KPIs will stand as quantifiable measurements of each goal; metrics, by any other definition.</p>


<p>That's important, because according to Sruthi Varanasi of <a href="https://reportgarden.com/google-analytics-metrics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">ReportGarden</a>, “A metric is a quantifiable measure that is used to track and assess the status of a specific business process.”</p>


<h2>Metrics – Lifeblood for a business; Heart of a Dashboard</h2>


<p>Suffice to say, metrics are the truest barometer of how your online business is doing.</p>


<p>Consider this: A 15 percent increase in conversions is just that, a successful trend. Subsequently, metrics serve as buoys that can keep your business sailing in deep water or warn you when shoals are near. A 21 percent dip in visibility over a month is just that, a falling trend, indicating you might need to revisit strategy and adjust – on the fly.</p>


<p>It stands to reason, then, that constructing a clean, uncluttered, incisive dashboard that represents key business intelligence metrics is equal parts science and art.</p>


<p>You want a dashboard whose widgets illustrate – at a glance – essential data from which sound business decisions can be made – whether those decisions concern the content of a webpage or the features of an actual product.</p>


<h2>Dashboard enABLEd! How to Determine Which Metrics to Track</h2>


<p>So, how do you decide which specific metrics should populate that dashboard from which you will extract actionable data? How do you identify those <a href="https://www.sisense.com/glossary/kpi-dashboard/">KPIs</a> for each business goal? Following these four steps will enABLE you (apology for the acronym within the acronym) to populate your dashboard with meaningful data:</p>


<ol>
	<li><em>A</em>pply S.M.A.R.T. methodology.</li>
	<li><em>B</em>ring the selection to the team.</li>
	<li><em>L</em>imit KPI assignment to three primary, overriding goals.</li>
	<li><em>E</em>liminate the urge to add more metrics to the dashboard.</li>
</ol>


<h4>1. Apply S.M.A.R.T. to each KPI</h4>


<p>For a basic example, if an overriding goal is to increase monthly recurring revenue (MRR), the questions to ask – and answer (more than yes/no) - to assess the validity of a KPI begin with:</p>


<ul>
	<li>Is a metric <strong>Specific</strong> to a goal? What needs to be accomplished and why?<br />
<i>We want to increase MRR to increase margins and subsidize a new product launch next year.</i></li>
	<li>Is it <strong>Measurable</strong>? What kind of historical change has been evident? How will we know the goal was reached? <br />
<i>According to historical analytics, we can feel confident that an MRR increase of between 3 – 5 % would be achievable.</i></li>
	<li>Is it <strong>Attainable</strong>? Are the resources readily available to achieve success? Is the goal reasonable? Is it likely to bring success?<br />
<i>We can ramp up social media promotion, launch a campaign, or otherwise put effort behind ramping up sales to drive revenue.</i></li>
	<li>Is it <strong>Relevant</strong>? How meaningful and worthwhile is the goal? In the current situation can we commit to its achievement? <br />
<i>Our competition has lost revenue, so more of the market is available to us. The more revenue generated, the more reward for us.</i></li>
	<li>Is it <strong>Timely</strong>? Is the goal ahead of the curve, or behind? What's the deadline for achieving it? What's the overall timeline set for adopting the goal?<br />
<i>After strategic planning, we can achieve a substantive bump in MRR over the subsequent quarter.</i></li>
</ul>


<p>So, your team devises this KPI: Increase MRR by 3% during Q2. What metric goes on the Dashboard? A monthly monitor of incoming revenue.</p>


<h4>2. Bring KPI selection process to the team</h4>


<p>Gain consensus on those metrics paramount to the team's and the company's success. Asking for a collective viewpoint not only helps distill the essence of paramount KPIs but also builds morale. Each team member gets some skin in the game.</p>


<h4>3. Limit KPI assignation to no more than three primary goals</h4>


<p><a href="https://segment.com/academy/intro/choosing-metrics-that-matter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Segment's Analytics Academy</a> declares the purpose behind each solitary metric populating your dashboard should focus attention on a specific business process (goal!) that needs to be optimized. Using the sample KPI above, it could be one of three under an overarching goal to drive an increase of MRR.</p>


<h4>4. Eliminate unnecessary metrics</h4>


<p>The rule of thumb is to have no more than seven metrics displayed on any single dashboard because, after all, it functions as a quick-glance representation of a goal's status. Thus, its <a href="https://www.sisense.com/blog/4-design-principles-creating-better-dashboards/">design</a> should advance easy comprehension, simple updating, and clean navigation without secondary data distractions.</p>


<p>Your team should make hard decisions on which metrics to include. Consider: secondary data get in the way, conflating interpretation, overwhelming the reviewer. Fewer metrics are better metrics.</p>


<p>Each time you visit the dashboard, you should remember that KPIs keep your business strategy agile, fleet, responsive. Positive data dictates stability and steadiness. Negative data compels your team to adjust, adapt and provide alternatives.</p>


<p>An <a href="https://www.betterbuys.com/bi/dashboard-best-practices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">effective dashboard</a> illustrates this crucial data and discloses a course of action to take.</p>


<h2>Metrics on Dashboard: What Are My Choices?</h2>


<p>Once you've followed the ABLE steps to determine your KPIs, you're ready to populate your dashboard. At this point, you may ask, "What are metrics that achieve near-universal adoption by businesses?"</p>


<p>That depends on the purpose behind your team, the audience (your team? An executive?) that will be reviewing the dashboard, the "actionability" of the selected KPIs, and the type of visuals preferred.</p>


<p>Metrics for a marketing team might include tracking web traffic sources, incremental sales, social sentiment, conversion rate, and SEO keyword ranking. A sales team might want to monitor sales growth, product performance, average purchase value, and average profit margin.</p>


<p>A financial team can follow working capital, <a href="https://www.sisense.com/kpi-library/financial-kpis/debt-equity-ratio/">debt-to-equity ratio</a>, and current ratio. An e-commerce team might monitor <a href="https://www.sisense.com/solutions/executive/ltv/">customer lifetime value</a> (CLV), customer retention rate, <a href="https://www.sisense.com/dashboard-examples/customer-service/customer-churn-analysis/">customer churn analysis</a>, and monthly recurring revenue.</p>


<p>Other salient KPIs can address net profit, revenue growth rate, project schedule variance (PSV), and average revenue per customer. Because your KPI choices are ultimately subjective, the A.B.L.E. methodology can help your team judiciously arrive at which data would be most constructive to track and display.</p>


<h2>Vital Metrics on (Dash)Board: The Skinny</h2>


<p>As long as any <a href="https://www.sisense.com/blog/how-to-translate-business-goals-into-kpis/">KPI on your dashboard is based in company goals</a>, is relevant to the team behind achieving that goal, is attainable, measurable and remains timely, the dashboard itself should render keen data from which you can take incisive action to engineer successes -- as well as avert disasters.</p>


<p>Taking the time to apply the SMART methodology, bring in the team, limit primary goals and amount of KPIs assigned to each, and eliminate the urge to overpopulate a dashboard with secondary data, will help you select the most meaningful metrics for your business onto your dashboard.</p>


<p>Perform these steps. Pick your metrics. Build your dashboard. Mine your data.</p>


<p>Grow your business.</p>


<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><i>About the Author</i></strong></span></p>


<p>&nbsp;</p>


<p>&nbsp;</p>
<figure><img class="alignleft" style="float: left; margin: 4px 10px 0px 0px; border: 1px solid #000000;" src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Keith-Craig-bio-pic-150x150.jpg" alt="Dashboard Design" width="100" height="88" /></figure>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Keith Craig is Content Marketing Manager for <a href="https://www.betterbuys.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Betterbuys</a>. He has more than a decade of experience using, researching and writing about business software and hardware. He can be found on <a href="https://twitter.com/keithalancraig" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithalancraig" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Building a Dashboard? 4 Keys to Find The Most Telling Metrics

<p>Once upon a time business intelligence was the domain of IT teams and data analysts. IT was like the gatekeeper of analytics, with departments having to rely on them to prepare the data and churn out reports for their BI projects.</p>


<p>Not anymore. Over the past few years, as technology evolved, businesses have had a choice of solutions offering analytics and visualization capabilities that open up business intelligence to everyone.</p>


<p>It’s a good thing, right? All of a sudden, businesses can get insights from previously unexplored data sources and forgotten branches of the business are discovering new insights that could change the strategic direction of the company – helping you gain competitive advantage.</p>


<p>Now an organization will have different types of business intelligence users – which brings both benefits and challenges. One of the biggest challenges is getting a handle on who’s accessing and using the data that’s available.</p>


<p>Before data spirals out of control, let’s take a look at some of those business intelligence users who’ll be working with your precious business data.</p>


<h2>Benefits of embedding BI across the business</h2>


<p>The whole point of bringing business intelligence to the masses is to embed BI across entire organizations, making data a part of how they conduct their business and streamline operations, and to bring agility to the whole process.</p>


<p>One of the biggest bonuses of handing responsibility for data reporting over to individual business intelligence users is that it enables on-demand reporting, with ad-hoc reports allowing users to get more specific insights that answer a specific query.</p>


<h2>What are the challenges?</h2>


<p>With more power given to business users, there’s the risk of IT teams taking their eye off the ball. While business intelligence users no longer need the technical skills that they used to, IT are needed more than ever, and there’s even greater need for data governance to ensure the success of BI.</p>


<p>Gartner predicted that, in 2017, <a href="https://www.dataversity.net/self-service-business-intelligence-big-may-not-everyone/">less than 40% of Self-Service Business Intelligence initiatives would be governed sufficiently to prevent inconsistencies</a> that adversely affect the business. And BARC said something similar in the <a href="https://bi-survey.com/bi-deployment">recent BI-Survey</a> when it recommended a Data and Tool Governance framework, plus closer alignment between IT, the business, and business intelligence users to prevent the total loss of control over data.</p>


<h2>And the department most likely to benefit from business intelligence is…</h2>


<p>Actually, <a href="/blog/top-benefits-business-intelligence-marketing/">benefits of business intelligence</a> are being felt across departments, in all industries. Data has become central to all roles, although product and market-driven results are more noticeable when you’re looking at the bottom line.</p>


<p>For instance, analytics can guide the sales cycle, and help marketing teams target leads. In HR, business intelligence comes into its own, helping businesses manage one of their important assets – people. HR holds a gold mine of information that can help with compensation planning, or link people to financial performance, for example.</p>


<p>We’ve talked about business intelligence use cases in a previous post – with some <a href="https://www.sisense.com/blog/3-ingenious-use-cases-for-business-intelligence-tools/">ingenious ways organizations and individuals are leveraging the power of data</a>.</p>


<h2>Different types of business intelligence users</h2>


<p>We’ve drilled down into our very own data to find out who are the key players in business data reporting.</p>


<p><strong>1. The Data Analyst</strong></p>


<p>The data analyst, as the name suggests, lives and breathes data. A statistician by nature, they will drill deep down into data, looking for fresh insights that will be used to underscore business strategy. The role includes documenting all your business data, identifying patterns and creating reports and dashboards that will support the decision-making process.</p>


<p><strong>2. The Executive</strong></p>


<p>The CEO, of course, is at the helm of the business, driving the company’s success by improving <a href="https://www.sisense.com/solutions/operations-and-logistics/">operational analytics</a> efficiency and constantly looking for ways to reduce costs.</p>


<p>Meanwhile, Gartner once described analytics as the <a href="http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/business-intelligence/gartner-taps-predictive-analytics-as-next-big-business-intelligence-trend.html">“combustion engine of business.”</a> So business intelligence and the CEO seems like a match made in heaven.</p>


<p>Business intelligence gives an organizational overview that allows the CEO to spot trends across the entire structure of the business – insights that can support:</p>


<ul>
	<li>Business growth</li>
	<li>Innovation</li>
	<li>Operational efficiency</li>
</ul>


<p><strong>3. The Business User</strong></p>


<p>Business intelligence users can come from across the organization. We often talk about two types of business users, the casual business intelligence user and the power user. The difference is that a power user has the capability of working with complex data sets, while the casual user will make use of dashboards to analyze predefined sets of data.</p>


<p>Generally the business user is often a manager, who is looking for ways to help a department operate more efficiently and more effectively. This type of business user is often untrained in using BI tools but is capable of picking up the basics of reporting and can use business intelligence successfully to report on business activities. Often they’ll undergo further training and become fully equipped to perform more in-depth analysis.</p>


<p><strong>4. The IT Team</strong></p>


<p>IT is another key player in the BI process. The IT user still plays a central role – maintaining the infrastructure and giving departments the tools that allow them to fulfill their own data requests – however, the role has become more rounded.</p>


<p>These days, IT will cooperate much more closely with departments and the business as a whole. It’s their job to ensure that business users are getting the most from data analytics, and they’re also a key part of data governance and <a href="https://www.sisense.com/product/govern/">BI security</a>. They’ll also bridge the gap between IT and business, helping increase BI adoption across the board.</p>


<h2>Take BI by the Reins</h2>


<p>It’s all too easy to lose control of business intelligence projects and to become bogged down in data. One way to take back control is to log all the BI users. This will become essential in governing your data but it’s also a useful way to identify gap areas where business intelligence is weak or isn’t producing the results you want.</p>


<p>A great suggestion is to classify business intelligence users based on how much training they’ve received or their analytical capabilities. This approach will help take your analytical maturity to the next level.</p>

4 Business Intelligence Users You’ll Encounter in Any Company

<p>The proliferation of <a href="https://www.sisense.com/product/business-teams/">business intelligence platforms</a>, tools, and software stacks is dizzying. To help people who are currently in the market for business intelligence tools or anyone who wants to gain a clearer understanding of the field, we've created this comprehensive list of online resources you can use to compare business intelligence products and vendors. These include user reviews and ratings, analyst commentary and professional guides that can help you self-evaluate. As we are a vendor in the space ourselves we've included mostly third-party reviews and reports for an unbiased perspective on BI tools. However, if you do want our own view of the marketplace and best practices for vendor selection, you might want to check out some of these white papers:</p>


<ul class="sisense">
	<li><a href="/whitepapers/business-analytics-evaluation-guidelines/">4 Steps To Successfully Evaluating BI Software</a></li>
	<li><a href="/whitepapers/embedded-analytics-guide/">The Ultimate Guide to Comparing Embedded Analytics Solutions</a></li>
	<li><a href="/whitepapers/sisense-vs-alternatives/">Sisense Compared to the Alternatives</a></li>
</ul>


<p>[line]</p>


<h2>BI Software Comparison Websites</h2>


<p>The following business intelligence software comparison sites enable you to compare between business analytics tools based on expert reviews and - more importantly - ratings and reviews from actual users.</p>


<h3>Gartner Peer Insights</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Gartner1-770x388.png" alt="Gartner" /></figure>
</div>


<p>This website is operated by revered analyst firm Gartner. While it also focuses on reviews by actual users, these are carefully guided by the review format to provide a highly detailed view of each product and its strengths and shortcomings within the scope of each deployment.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/analytics-business-intelligence-platforms">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>G2 Crowd</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/g2crowd-770x265.png" alt="g2 crowd" /></figure>
</div>


<p>G2 Crowd is a leading business software review platform and contains over 375,000 user reviews for various B2B applications. The site also publishes grid reports that allow users to easily compare between the leading tools and evaluate their advantages, <a href="https://www.g2.com/products/sisense/pricing">pricing</a>, etc.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.g2.com/categories/analytics-platforms" rel="nofollow">Visit website</a> or download the <a href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/compare-top-bi-vendors-using-g2-crowd/">G2 Crowd BI Implementation Index</a>.</p>


<h3>Capterra</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/capterra-770x270.png" alt="Capterra" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Capterra is a free service that helps businesses find the right software, and business intelligence is one of the 300+ categories the website covers. You can use Capterra to browse and compare business intelligence software, read buying guides, blogs, user reviews &amp; <a href="https://www.capterra.com/p/86955/Sisense/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pricing</a> and request a personalized match from Capterra's experts according to specific business needs.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.capterra.com/business-intelligence-software/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>GetApp</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/GetApp-770x255.png" alt="GetApp" /></figure>
</div>


<p>GetApp is an extremely comprehensive directory of reviews for business software, SaaS and cloud applications. In terms of BI applications, it contains listings and reviews for dashboard software as well as big data, <a href="https://www.sisense.com/glossary/data-mining-basics/">data mining</a>, <a href="https://www.sisense.com/glossary/predictive-data-analytics/">predictive analytics</a> and other types of analytical tools. Within each category, you can view product reviews and <a href="https://www.getapp.com/business-intelligence-analytics-software/a/sisense-prism/pricing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pricing </a>as well as compare two or more products based on their ratings in various criteria. Additionally, the site's "Lab" feature offers research, reports, and insights into industry trends.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.getapp.com/business-intelligence-analytics-software/business-intelligence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>Finances Online</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Finances_Online-770x327.png" alt="Finances Online" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Despite its name, this website actually offers a comprehensive directory of various business software (including non-finance related). You can use it to "compare products, read customer reviews and reports from experts to easily find a solution that will let your company grow". When it comes to business intelligence the site features reviews, articles and product comparisons.</p>


<p><a href="https://business-intelligence.financesonline.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>TrustRadius</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/trust_radius-770x324.png" alt="Trust Radius" /></figure>
</div>


<p>TrustRadius defines itself as a community of professionals sharing software reviews, software discussions, and best practices, with a strong focus on user reviews - which are often long and detailed, enabling you to get a good picture of the functionality of each product and its pros and cons.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.trustradius.com/business-intelligence-bi">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>SelectHub</h3>


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/selecthub-screenshot.png" alt="Screenshot SelectHub website" /></figure>


<p>According to SelectHub's mission statement, its one goal is to make technology investments more impactful by reducing the pains of evaluating and onboarding while increasing ROI. The site provides leaderboards, reviews, <a href="https://www.selecthub.com/business-intelligence-tools/sisense/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">pricing</a> and ratings for various types of enterprise software tools, including business intelligence.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.selecthub.com/business-intelligence-tools/">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>IT Central Station</h3>


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/ITCentralStation-Screenshot.png" alt="IT Central Station" /></figure>


<p>While at first glance this may look like yet another directory of reviews for business software, the place where IT Central Station really shines is in its active user base and communities - with thousands of users and new reviews being constantly posted, commented on and updated. Reviewers undergo multi-tiered authentication before their posts are approved to appear on the site. In addition to reviews, the site provides comparisons, product descriptions and FAQs.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.itcentralstation.com/categories/business-intelligence-bi-tools">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>Software Advice</h3>


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/software-advice-screenshot.png" alt="Screenshot of Software Advice website" /></figure>


<p>Software Advice aims to simplify the software selection process with the promise of matching buyers with the right software in 15 minutes. In addition to the usual reviews, ratings, and leaderboards, the site also offers to provide a free telephone consultation to interested prospects.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>DiscoverCloud</h3>


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/discovercloud-screenshot.png" alt="Screenshot of DiscoverCloud website" /></figure>


<p>DiscoverCloud was founded in 2012 in order to help business owners find the tools and information required to grow their business. Its Marketplace features an ever-growing number of SaaS solutions and outsourced services, currently listing over 3,000 applications. The site provides reviews, ratings, and market landscape analysis matrices.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.discovercloud.com/categories/business-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>Technology Advice</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Technology_Advice-770x252.png" alt="TechnologyAdvice" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Technology Advice focuses on product comparisons and has a rich library of original research, white papers, and studies. In addition, you will find the expected reviews from software users, as well as an automated recommendation system.</p>


<p><a href="https://technologyadvice.com/business-intelligence/">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>Solutions Review</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/solutions_review-770x229.png" alt="solutions review" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Unlike its counterparts, this website does not focus on user reviews but does serve as a useful hub for industry related news, commentary and best practices. The site also published periodical buyer's guide which can help comparing BI vendors according to their feature sets.</p>


<p><a href="https://solutionsreview.com/business-intelligence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>Software Insider</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/software_insider-770x300.png" alt="Software Insider" /></figure>
</div>


<p>This site uses semantic technology to deliver insights from data driven articles, visualizations, and resarch tools. They allow ou to create a shortlist and filder by everyting from platform type and analysis features to business size and supported languages.</p>


<h3>BetterBuys</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/BetterBuys-770x262.png" alt="BetterBuys" /></figure>
</div>


<p>BetterBuys lets you browse vendor and compare top solutions. They also offer a free comparison guide that breaks down the top BI vendors in an easy to use report.</p>


<p><a href="https://www.betterbuys.com/bi/reviews/">Visit website</a></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><a href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/sisense-vs-alternatives/"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Sisense_Compared_To_The_Alternatives.jpg" alt="Sisense vs Alternatives " /></a></figure>
</div>


<p><br />
<br />
[line]</p>


<h2>Analyst Reports</h2>


<p>If you've had your fill of user reviews, you might want to check out some of these analyst reports and resources. All of them offer both a comparison between different products, as well as serving as valuable resources for understanding general concepts and considerations within the BI and analytics space.</p>


<h3>Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms, 2018</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Gartner1-770x388.png" alt="Gartner" /></figure>
</div>


<p>The quintessential report for all things business intelligence, Gartner's Magic Quadrant needs no introduction and is usually considered the most well-researched and highly-regarded point of reference to understand the layout of the BI landscape. You can get a copy of it <a href="https://www.sisense.com/gartner-magic-quadrant-business-intelligence/">right here</a>.</p>


<h3>The BARC BI Survey</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/BARC_001-770x365.png" alt="" /></figure>
</div>


<p>The Business Application Research Center (BARC) annually surveys thousands of business intelligence software users, gathering feedback on the tools that they use across a wide variety of KPIs meant to measure each tool's business value, user experience, customer satisfaction and competitiveness. The report is a very useful aggregation of the opinions of actual users who work with the product in their day-to-day.</p>


<p><a href="https://bi-survey.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Visit website</a></p>


<h3>Dresner Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/dresner-770x297.png" alt="Dresner" /></figure>
</div>


<p>The Wisdom of Crowds Report, in addition to providing a set of detailed criteria for evaluating BI vendors, is also based off of the feedback of thousands of actual users who participated in the study and ranked the leading BI tools based on their own experience. You can <a href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/wisdom-crowds-business-intelligence-market-study/">download the report here.</a></p>


<h3>Forrester Wave Reports</h3>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Forrester-770x372.png" alt="Forrester" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Another highly esteemed analyst firm, Forrester periodically releases its Wave Reports focusing on specific segments in the market, e.g. cloud business intelligence or <a href="https://www.sisense.com/why-sisense/">agile BI</a>. These reports are available to download from the <a href="https://go.forrester.com/">Forrester website</a>.</p>


<h3>Butler Analytics</h3>


<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/butler-analytics-screenshot-small.png" alt="Screenshot of Butler Analytics Website" /></figure>


<p>While analyst Martin Butler does not release annual reports, his website is definitely worth visiting. In addition to specific product comparisons and lists, the blog is worth checking out for a refreshing and often critical voice of the BI industry and the oft-exaggerated claims made by vendors. You can <a href="https://www.butleranalytics.com/">visit Butler Analytics here</a>.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright"><a href="https://www.sisense.com/whitepapers/sisense-vs-alternatives/"><img src="https://cdn.sisense.com/wp-content/uploads/Sisense_Compared_To_The_Alternatives.jpg" alt="Sisense vs Alternatives " /></a></figure>
</div>