Since Thomas Davenport wrote Competing on Analytics in 2007, the use of analytics has evolved from a niche contributor to the central role of successful companies decision making, product development, marketing and other core functions. A great white paper published by Tableau highlights what it considers the top 10 trends for business intelligence. Of these ten trends, there are five that I agree will impact significantly companies this year.

Analytics emerge across the organization

Analytics will no longer be a domain dominated by analysts and data scientists; instead everyone in the organization will be using analytics daily for their decision making. Easier-to-use technologies that provide browser-based or mobile analytics let people answer ad-hoc business questions. Companies that recognize this as a strategic advantage will begin to support managers and front-line personnel with data, tools and training to help them do their jobs more effectively.

Everything integrates

There has been a huge amount of innovation across the data space, resulting in mixed environments for everything from data storage to analytics to business applications. Although there will not be one system or application for all of your needs, the different analytic systems will be more integrated and easier to use, making them more accessible across your company. You will laugh at the multiple logins and clunky processes you had to use during analytics 1.0. Continue reading “Analytics in 2015” →