How AI is Enhancing Self-Service BI
How to Activate your Augmented Analytics Strategy
In the dynamic world of business, staying ahead means making swift, informed decisions. But how can decision makers cut through the noise and find actionable insights quickly? In the past, substantial data teams were needed to process reports and deliver these to key stakeholders. More recently, this slower process has been superseded by much faster self-service business intelligence platforms (BI platforms) – like PowerBI, Tableau, & Datorama. Now things are about to accelerate once again.
How? The answer lies in the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into self service BI tools; a game-changing strategy that’s democratising data analysis, and empowering business leaders with more impactful insights, faster than ever before. We’ve witnessed firsthand how AI is reshaping self-service BI into a new, powerful ally for businesses. Let’s explore how this synergy is redefining the ways that people interact with data, and take a look at an incredible case study from the New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX)
Examples
Simple Searching with Natural Language Processing
Imagine posing a question to your BI tool just as you would to a colleague. With AI-powered Natural Language Processing (NLP), you can. No more grappling with query syntax – simply ask and receive instant, insightful feedback. Some of the biggest players in the market are already empowering their users with NLP:
Tableau’s ‘Ask Data’: Type your questions in simple everyday language like “what were our total sales in California last quarter?”, and watch as tableau generates the visualisations you need from scratch!
Microsoft Power BI’s ‘Q&A’: Engage with your data conversationally, effortlessly uncovering trends and insights with auto-generated charts.
Discover Hidden Gems with Automated Insights
A good AI BI integration is like having access to a team of data analysts working round the clock. Powerful algorithms can sift through vast datasets and detect patterns, trends, and anomalies to deliver proactive insights. This technology is so strong, we’re often seeing businesses identify key insights which had previously gone unnoticed – meaning that with a combined AI BI platform you not only move faster, you go further too. There are already some extremely exciting tools, out there changing the business intelligence world right now:
Tellius: Automatically identify outliers and discover the key drivers of change behind your metrics.
Thoughtspot’s ‘SpotIQ’: Analyse billions of data points at lightning speed to surface relevant insights, interesting anomalies, and unexpected trends
Visualise with Precision using AI-Enhanced Tools
Choosing the right visualisation can make or break your data story. AI hugely simplifies this process, automatically selecting the most impactful ways to present your data. Moving fast has never been easier, and there are several great options available in the market:
Qlik’s ‘Cognitive Engine’: Get smart suggestions for the most appropriate chart type based on the data being analysed.
Tableau’s ‘Show Me’: Focus on insights, not formatting, by letting AI select the optimal visualisations based on your data fields.
See the Future with Predictive & Prescriptive Analytics
Why just report on what’s happened, when you can predict what comes next? AI brings advanced analytics right to your fingertips, using intelligent algorithms to forecast trends and prescribe actions. This is one of the most impactful AI technologies out there, supporting tools from a range of providers:
Salesforce’s ‘Einstein Analytics’: Integrate AI-powered predictions and recommendations directly into your dashboards for proactive decision-making.
Microstrategy’s ‘HyperIntelligence’: Embed predictive insights into enterprise applications, offering guidance right when you need it.
Streamline Set-Up with Augmented Data Preparation
Data preparation is often one of the most time-consuming hurdles in the world of AI enhanced BI. The process is far from short, and an expert hand is required to weave raw information into a usable data lake, database, or dataset that can feed machine learning models. This is no longer the case . AI is easing this burden – automating much of the process, and guiding even non-experts along their data journey. There are some really great providers working in this niche, and we’ve seen clients have a lot of success working with these systems:
Alteryx’s ‘Assisted Modelling’: Navigate the creation of machine learning models with simple, step-by-step AI guidance.
DataRobot: Automate feature engineering and model selection to massively accelerate your predictive analytics journey.
Seize the Moment with Real-Time Analytics
In today’s market, timing is everything. The ability to react to a change as soon as it emerges can be the difference between leading the pack, or falling behind. AI is helping businesses to do just this, transforming data from a static asset into a dynamic catalyst for action. By swiftly processing live, real-time data streams into visualisations and insights, AI enhanced business intelligence ensures you’re always ready to act. There are many providers helping users harness this power, ensuring teams can move fast when every second counts:
Domo’s ‘Mr Roboto’: Continuously analyse incoming data streams to catch anomalies and trends right as they happen.
Sisense’s ‘In-Chip Technology’: Leverage AI to supercharge queries on live data, gaining instant access to critical information so you’re never caught unawares.
Case Study
New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX): Reducing IT Dependency
This incredible case study comes from the guys over at Netsuite, and shows the wide-ranging value impact of an AI-enhanced self-service BI strategy.
Challenge: NYSHEX relied on manual data extraction and Excel-based analysis, with most reporting requests falling on the engineering team. The NYSHEX was bogged down by manual data extraction and Excel-based analyses, with a heavy reliance on their already overburdened engineering team to handle reporting requests
Solution: Invested in AI-enhanced BI, centralizing data and providing company-wide access. Investment in AI-enhanced BI tools allowed the NYSHEX to centralise their data and provide company-wide access.
Results: Empowered non-technical users to perform deep data analysis. More than tripled shipping volume between Asia and U.S. in 2019 This shift empowered non-technical teams across the organisation to conduct deep data analyses independently. As a consequence, IT dependency was drastically reduced – and in 2019 this agility propelled a more than threefold increase in shipping volume between Asia and the US.
Charting the Future: AI Enhanced Self-Service BI
The integration of AI into self-service BI tools is much more than a flat upgrade – it’s a totally new paradigm. It’s making BI more intuitive, accessible, and powerful – and it’s happening right now! Behind the doors of so many businesses, AI is the tool helping them make better use of data assets, and drive strategic growth.
With even more advancements on the horizon – like automated data storytelling and highly sophisticated prescriptive analytics – the tools at your disposal will only become more transformative. The future of self-service BI really does lie in further AI integration.
