Much like in 2018 and the years before, business intelligence is set to be among the hottest 1% of technologies in 2019 as well. With the new year in mind, both organizations and aspiring business intelligence professionals will be on the lookout for new business intelligence trends in 2019. Here is all that you need to know about ten of the most happening things in the business intelligence domain.
Before diving deep into new business intelligence trends, it is befitting to understand why business intelligence is that important a technology in the Industry 4.0 environment. At its core, the purpose of Business Intelligence is to decisively dig into past information and data to help organizations make better-informed business decisions. From that standpoint, the reason that propels companies to invest time and resources in BI remains quite consistent.
Like with all emerging technologies, the variations are often in the manners and manifestations in which a process or the organization as a whole embraces technology. With that, here are your top six business intelligence trends for 2019.
1. More dedicated time and resource for artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence has taken off – big time. Companies that have not yet invested time, resource, or research in AI have a lot to lose in 2019. However, that is a highly unlikely occurrence as one of every two companies that have not invested in Artificial Intelligence are all set to do so sometimes by 2019.
Quality AI platforms have the potential to work with data inputs at far greater speeds than humans. In addition, technological reliance helps address small details and prune minute errors that might easily miss the human eye. Some specific AIs have the power to provide streamlined information to customers.
By 2020 alone, 8 out of 10 companies will be using some of the other application of chatbots. A lot of valuable user interactions remain to be gleaned with the use of chatbots. For example, chatbots could easily make you a list of the words most commonly expressed or user sentiments that recur during conversations. On the face of it, this does not seem like much of a discovery. But such observations give rise to important discoverable patterns.
Put together, all these statistics reaffirm why AI is not another flash-in-the-pan moment in tech. The longer a business takes to deploy AI from here on, the harder it will become for them to catch up in the future.
Prioritized data governance
A bi-survey poll on business intelligence conducted with over 2600 business intelligence professionals concluded that the overwhelming majority of the participants rated business intelligence as a factor with above-average importance in data governance. The participants also unanimously agreed that business intelligence will have even greater say on data governance in 2019.
Consumer-centric industries like telecommunications and banking are the most likely to receive a makeover courtesy of business intelligence. Any industry that wishes to learn the value of business intelligence efforts should prioritize data governance over many other aspects.
Simultaneously, a lot of effort must also go into ensuring the accuracy of the data. If the information relayed is faulty, duplicate, or not completely accurate, it could result in serious repercussions. For one, employees would lose faith in the business leaders, making focusing on business intelligence not worth the effort in the first place.
Apart from this, it is important to note that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is in full swing across the European Union. With that, it becomes even more important to lay emphasis on business methods that treat consumer data most sensitively. Moreover, a regulation similar to the GDPR is set to come to California in 2020. Given that so much happening around data policies, it does not come as a surprise that business intelligence is molding accordingly.
Big data and for nuanced organizational support
Application of Business Intelligence goes beyond suggesting improvements in a company’s operations. The use of data for a positive social change keeps growing by the day. It is especially important to do so with the help of structured data banks. By streamlining efforts across a range of organizations, labor outputs can be maximized and extra data can be pooled into the development of new ideas.
There’s also been growing talk about making use of data for purely altruistic purposes in 2019. There have been companies that have focused on it for a reasonable amount of time. Way back in 2013, MasterCard made launched an independent subsidiary for data applications dedicated to the greater good. The best way for this to work out is to club big data into corporate social responsibility plans of organizations.
Success in achieving this could help businesses realize success beyond business profits. Sample this: most studies suggest that most millennials are more likely to work at companies that give back. So businesses have the chance to appeal to a larger pool of talent while figuring new ways to leverage business intelligence for social good.
Greater business intelligence integration in small companies
In 2018, Business Intelligence was particularly favored by organizations with fewer than 100 employees. This is the most conclusive evidence that the size of an organization does not go a great deal in influencing their decision to adopt Business Intelligence. It’s also a common observation that in smaller organizations, employees have a greater feeling of ownership toward individual business processes. This makes adoption of Business Intelligence easier in smaller organizations.
The rising use of Business Intelligence software across smaller organizations is all set to continue throughout 2019. Some credit would definitely go to an increasingly large pool of providers that are striving hard to make their services both accessible and affordable. The most crucial takeaway is that even employees with a tight shoestring budget can make decisive use of business intelligence.
Data interpretation through storytelling
Data storytelling has never been as big as it will be in 2019. Numerous conferences highlight the impact of data storytelling throughout industries. Conferences like the Data Visualization Summit in San Francisco explore the interpretation of data through the nodes of storytelling. Owing to the way data storytelling assigns the necessary context to data, data storytelling will remain a vital aspect of Business Intelligence throughout the length of 2019.
Skill in data literacy is required irrespective of how advanced the business intelligence platform is. Without that skill, figures cannot be interpreted and shaped into meaningful insights from which a business can learn. To rephrase, data literacy skill can add meaning to advanced data and how it can be meaningful to the business.
Not many people have the skill to make meaning of a spreadsheet filled with random numbers. And even the best-explained bar graphs are not easy pies for a bulk of the audiences. Nevertheless, the ability to storify data is still an indispensable skill.
Extended outputs by self-service business intelligence
With a self-service business intelligence interface, most companies might feel they do not need help from data scientists. But it is the opposite scenario when you dive deep into analytics. That is why four out of five businesses in a study involved in the UK plan on hiring data scientists in 2019.
The same study also pointed out how companies that use or plan on using BI believe that it gives them an edge over the competition. For companies that are yet to decide on taking the plunge into BI, self-service software would be a great start. Before making an investment into such tools, a business much look at what they really want in return. More importantly, a business should evaluate how seamlessly Business Intelligence gels with the overall operation of the company.
Futran Solutions specializes in delivering composite Business Intelligence solutions and resources. As applications of Business Intelligence in business is evolving, so are the resources that shoulder these needs within an organization. Speak to a Futran Business Intelligence specialist today. Find out how we help you achieve your business and marketing objectives.
