IT roles are evolving positively through the shift to self-service Business Intelligence (BI) models
In today's fast-paced business environment, IT departments are reassessing their practices and structures to meet the growing demand for self-service access to data. This shift is driven by the need for faster, more flexible business intelligence, leading to the emergence of 'operational business intelligence.'
James Eiloart, VP EMEA at Tableau Software, explains the significance of this change, "Operational business intelligence aims to empower the entire organization to make better decisions driven by analytics."
Traditionally, business intelligence solutions were custom-built applications, requiring specialist skills and IT support for deployment. However, the consumerization of IT and the democratization of data have led to the development of self-service analytics software.
Leading companies in the development and distribution of self-service business intelligence tools include Tableau, known for its interactive analytics and dashboards, Microsoft with Power BI, offering intuitive self-service analytics and reporting, and Bissantz DeltaMaster, providing integrated analysis, reporting, dashboards, and planning for complex business requirements, also compatible with Power BI.
These new tools are revolutionizing organizational performance worldwide. They are cutting down on the 'time to insight' by eliminating complicated administrative processes and multiple departments' involvement. IT personnel are being freed up from report production, allowing them to focus on core tasks and technological direction of the company.
The core data analyst role will remain for heavy lifting in large companies, but sophisticated data analysis will feed into day-to-day activities across the entire business. This democratization of data is not just a technological shift, but also a cultural one. Business intelligence software is causing organization-wide cultural shifts, with IT departments leading this transition.
However, with this increased access to data comes the need for new data governance practices. Traditional data governance approaches like locking down all enterprise data or freeing all company data are no longer effective in the age of self-service business analytics. IT needs to investigate new data governance practices for self-service business analytics and develop new processes to keep data secure.
By embracing self-service business intelligence, IT departments can redefine themselves as business-leading functions. Through shared success with the rest of the organization, IT can gain recognition as a critical enabler to the business. A tidal wave of data is overloading modern day businesses, with the realization that valuable insights can be drawn from it. The need for self-service business intelligence presents an opportunity for IT to lead the way in unlocking these insights and driving business growth.
In conclusion, the rise of self-service business intelligence is transforming the way businesses operate. By empowering the entire organization to make data-driven decisions, these tools are becoming increasingly important competitive differentiators. As IT departments shift focus towards core tasks and technological direction, they are poised to drive this transformation and redefine their role within the business.
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