Business Intelligence Trends Analysts Should Monitor In 2022
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It is common knowledge that business analysts rely heavily on data to suggest ways companies can operate more effectively. As such, analysts are heavily interested in business intelligence, the software and services that turn raw data into actionable insights that companies can use to make data-driven decisions. According to Mordor Intelligence, the UK's business intelligence market will reach a CAGR of 9.2% between 2021-2026 alone. The business intelligence world is ever evolving, so analysts must stay abreast of the latest industry development. Below are some business intelligence trends analysts should keep an eye on in 2022.
1. Intersection of business intelligence and big data analytics
Many experts agree that there has been an increased erosion of the boundaries between business intelligence and big data analytics. Big data analytics originated as an independent field concerned with the processing of unstructured data to generate insights. Conversely, business intelligence involves collecting, processing, analysing, sorting, filtering, and reporting internal business information like financial reports, sales and CRM data, and insights from email automation tools, for example. However, business data is spreading to the Internet of Things and social media. Therefore, business intelligence involves processing big data for business insights. Business intelligence also ensures large volumes of datasets from different sources and types that can be harnessed for operations and strategy.
The volume of data created, captured, and consumed worldwide this year will be quite large. Seagate estimates it will hit a whopping 120 zettabytes or 120 trillion gigabytes. Consequently, the most forward-looking business intelligence solutions will be increasingly reliant on various tools like machine learning, automation, and predictive analysis. This way, they can better consolidate and analyse big data from different sources to obtain valuable insights for data-backed, real-time decisions. Still, experts predict that organisations that rely on big data will find it too costly to convert zettabytes of data from one format to another. Consequently, organisations will increasingly rely on Analytics-as-a-Service so they can collect, clean, organise and process large and disparate datasets via the internet.
2. The rise of data storytelling
It is one thing to analyse data and a completely different thing to interpret it for business. There is no denying that data analytics provides insights that can guide decision-making, the ultimate endgame of business intelligence. Making these insights useful is easier said than done, however. For this, analysts must convey information to business leaders in an actionable and reasonable way. Most importantly, analysts must describe how their data turned into useful insights, encouraging the rise of data storytelling. Storytelling has become increasingly vital in today's data-driven world since it brings some context to statistics and offers the right narrative necessary to turn insights into action.
Indeed, many organisations have noticed that dashboard figures make little sense if they aren't put into context and interpreted. Consequently, these companies have invested heavily in adopting data storytelling principles to drive conversations concerning data. Data storytelling will continue shaping many companies' business intelligence strategies this year. Over time, this trend is expected to slowly revolutionise how organisations leverage data to engage and experiment with new ideas.
3. Collaborative business intelligence
Collaborative business intelligence has been around for some time. Still, the ever-changing business environment, evident by managers and their staff needing to communicate differently, has given new momentum to this trend. Distributed teams are now the norm, and it is safe to assume remote collaboration isn't going anywhere. Collaborative business intelligence helps connect team members in real-time to share and discuss insights. Team members can communicate with others using collaborative dashboards and interactive reports, ensuring that more individuals are involved in the decision-making process. This trend became quite essential at the start of the pandemic since there was a dire need for more collaboration in the business world. Many experts predict that it will continue gaining popularity in 2022 and beyond due to the many benefits it brings to the modern workplace.
4. Self-service analytics
Big data analysis has always been a complex process, requiring the input of professional data scientists. Thankfully, self-service business intelligence is here to change the entire approach to data analytics and make it faster. Self-service analytics has been on many organisations' wishlists for a long time. This reality is because business analysts and other users have been quite uncomfortable with the complexity of business intelligence analytics tools. Moreover, hiring competent data scientists to handle analytics makes operating more expensive. Fortunately, thanks to self-service analytics, modern business analysts and other users can handle business intelligence tasks alone without the help of IT teams or data scientists. After all, users can filter, sort and analyse data even if they don't have technical or analytical skills.
Still, many organisations are establishing a solid foundation of data literacy to make self-service analytics possible. Gartner defines data literacy as being able to read, write, and communicate data in context. Although Advice Cloud opines that the UK is currently the most data literate it has ever been, more work needs to be done to increase user adoption and effectiveness of business intelligence tools. This way, business owners can eliminate the data literacy gap between technical and non-technical users.
5. Stringent data security
It is expected that this year will see more artificial intelligence developments in data security within the business intelligence ecosystem. Cyberattacks against individuals and organisations that handle data are rampant, so business intelligence stakeholders will do more to bolster their security. It is estimated that the UK's small to medium-sized businesses experience 65,000 attempted hacks daily, 4,500 of which are successful. These successful cyberattacks can drag organisations through the mud, wrecking their reputations and exposing thousands of users. Significant financial loss can also occur due to data breaches. The terrifying thing about these breaches is that they affect businesses of all sizes. Consequently, many business intelligence stakeholders, especially those in healthcare and financial services, will work harder to seal all loopholes for security breaches.
6. Modernisation of data warehouses
Data-driven decisions are only as effective and accurate as the integrity of the data. As such, data quality management is one of the most critical business intelligence trends analysts must pay attention to. Data warehouse modernisation will certainly scale in 2022 to meet big data's growing demands. In addition, we will likely see more integration of machine learning algorithms in business intelligence processes. Artificial intelligence-powered features will be used in predictive and descriptive analytics to manage cumbersome warehousing processes. Consequently, machine learning will take over tasks like forecast modelling, data benchmarking, and parsing historical data. This way, data and business analysts can concentrate on tasks requiring collaboration, context, and creativity, like diagnostic and prescriptive analytics processes.
7. Connected cloud
The pandemic forced many companies to take critical looks at their business intelligence strategies after on-premise solutions failed to meet the needs of a largely remote workforce. Many of these companies migrated to cloud-based business intelligence in 2020 and 2021 as a result, whether on a public or private cloud or even a SaaS solution. This year will see more companies realign their budgets to accommodate cloud infrastructure as remote and disparate workforces become the norm. As such, all business intelligence elements like data models, computing power, and storage are destined for the cloud. Consequently, organisations cannot afford to ignore cloud analytics, although it is difficult, more expensive, and riskier to accomplish due to different systems in the cloud. Fortunately, the connected cloud strategy can help businesses enjoy flexibility and lower analytics' potential risks. Nevertheless, it is vital to consider the various challenges of the connected cloud before investing in it.
