January 3, 2019 What to Seek in a Data Analytics Platform?

It’s essential that you understand what features make a data analytics platform particularly beneficial before you go out and purchase one.

January 3, 2019

More and more companies are adopting some form of data analytics to their everyday workflow. Businesses that intelligently integrate these systems have a distinct advantage over their peers. But not all analytics tools are the same. In fact, the quality, quantity, and costs of services greatly varies between different options. Here’s what you should be looking for in a data analytics platform.

Scalability

Scalability should be your top concern when seeking a data analytics platform. You can’t overestimate the importance of scalability when dealing with data analytics tools. For most organizations, it’s critical to get analytics tools that can handle large quantities of data without losing operating power. Additionally, they have to do this with enough efficiency to not create extreme hardware and cloud costs.

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

Look for data analytics platforms that harness the power of AI and machine learning. These technologie can uncover and curate automated insights previously hidden in troves of data across multiple sources. Advanced algorithms powered by AI and ML can quickly identify trends within your data you might not have discovered on your own.

Interactive Dashboards

Dashboards are one of the most important features to the usability of a data analytics platform. The dashboard is where most people will spend their time while working with the program. This is where you’ll find various graphs, metrics, and other key information relating to the performance of your organization. Many data analytics platforms now offer real-time analytics on their dashboards—meaning dashboards automatically update as they receive new information. A strong dashboard should also offer a decent amount of customization capabilities. This allows you to get the most value out of your chosen platform.

Embedded Analytics

Many people see embedded analytics as a top priority when choosing a data analytics platform. There’s a good reason for that. Embedded analytics can be extremely useful because they bridge the gap between business applications, such as CRM, and BI. Essentially, embedded analytics combines the analysis power of traditional BI tools with traditional business applications by allowing users to embed visualizations.

Flexible Data Integration

Your company might have multiple kinds of data, saved in various places in different ways. That doesn’t mean you should only use certain parts of your data for certain things. You need to get a data analytics platform that supports a variety of data—from CRM, ERP, and others. Finding a data analytics platform like ThoughtSpot that can integrate multiple sources will save you a lot of time and produce better results.

User-Friendly Design

In the past, data analysis has been done exclusively by dedicated teams. This is changing, as analytics are becoming more user friendly. Relational search is one data analytics feature that stands out in this regard. Users can instantly get accurate readouts by simply entering inquiries how one might into a search engine. Thanks to artificial intelligence, relational search can immediately synthesize information to produce actionable results.

Mobile Compatibility

People typically don’t think of doing BI work on their smartphone or tablet. However, this is increasingly becoming an important feature to look for in data analytics platforms.

Think of it this way: Your employees aren’t always working in the office, why should they only have access to their BI tools there? Mobile analytics is extremely useful when employees need to quickly access information while working in the field.

Good Customer Reporting Features

A huge part of data work is proving your worth to your customers. Your job gets a lot easier when your data analytics tools offer strong customer reporting features. These should be intuitive, and easy to understand.

A Variety of Tools

There’s no reason to pay up for a one-trick pony when there are so many data tools out there today. Many data analytics platforms will offer users a variety of features. Make sure you understand what these are before you decide on a particular program. Moreover, make sure you have an idea as to how these features will be specifically useful to your organization. If you have doubts, take a look at another option.

Many organizations are waking up to the power of harnessing modern data analytics platforms. When done correctly, these tools can give companies a massive advantage over their competitors.

Jake Anderson
Awestruck by Star trek as a kid, Jake Anderson has been relentless in his pursuit for covering the big technological innovations which will shape the future. A self-proclaimed gadget freak, he loves getting his hands on every piece of gadget he can afford.

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