Analysts have regularly said that the ceiling for BI adoption is 30%. However, we found that only 22% of business users have and use self-service analytics tools. This 8% gap is an opportunity for more end users to make data-driven decisions. And who knows, maybe by delivering the right type of self-service tools to the right users, you may go well beyond the “ceiling” of adoption.
How can you get there? Here are a few tips for driving user adoption:
Balance the need for governance with the need for speed. For instance, visual discovery tools for key, trusted analysts produces the highest speed, and least governed data delivery. As your requirements stabilize, you can build in governance required for broader distribution.
Make it pervasive: Drive analytics to where your users are. Some users will want stand-alone specialist tools, but many will prefer analytics embedded within the applications they use every day, or analytics that show up physically where they are working via mobile or wall-board style deployments.
User-Interface is important: It isn’t just about the data model. The user interface (UI) / user experience (UX) is important for driving broad adoption. Not all users are “pivot-table” compliant. You need to focus in on the target user, their needs and capabilities, and deliver analytics in a UI that is engaging and fits the end-user.
Read the other posts in this series: