Self-service BI: High Potential - but not
a Sure-fire Success!

The “Piggly Wiggly” Principle - now also in Data Analysis?

Traditional Data Analysis vs. Self-service BI

Traditional business intelligence software is very complex and usually only IT specialists are able to use it. In order to create evaluations in the various departments of the company, such as sales, marketing or financial controlling, close cooperation between the specialist department and the IT department is required. The big data experts always have to provide the required data material to the specialist departments first - so the latter are dependent on the former.

This is where self-service BI comes into play: the approach enables experts to create reports and analyses themselves. This works thanks to various tools and applications that are intuitive to use.

Apart from usability, what else do you need to consider in order to exploit the potential of SSBI?

How to use SSBI correctly and in a Targeted Manner

Necessary Prerequisite: Software with a Platform Approach

SSBI offers you the opportunity to simplify data analysis, but this only works if you purchase software products from a vendor that offers all business solutions in a technology platform. Only then is all data automatically connected - and only then can the IT department be kept out of the process.

Bye-bye Isolated Solutions! That's why
the Future belongs
to the Platform Approach

Clear, Functional Tools that are intuitive to use

Always remember: experts are not BI professionals - that’s why you need to provide them with tools that allow an uncomplicated start in just a few steps without extensive training. The vast majority of employees have already gained experience with Microsoft Office applications in their day-to-day work. Therefore, solutions that have an Excel or Access-like structure or are directly integrated into Office applications are particularly suitable.

Enable Collaborative Working

It is also important that reports from different departments can be processed together. Team functions that are supported by self-service BI also help here.

Ensure IT Security and User Rights

When you implement SSBI, you need to pay particular attention to IT security. This can be ensured by training employees in the specialist departments, for example, in which they are made aware of the topic. Another option: introduce specific user rights to allow access to data only for selected employees. And also make sure that data is processed according to a uniform pattern throughout the company. This will help you avoid data chaos.

Use Tools on the Move and from any Location

It also helps if employees can create and access analyses and reports from mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Ideally, the information is available 24/7 and your employees can work anywhere.

Include other Tools and Sources

Just because you use SSBI does not automatically mean that you will never need Excel analyses again. On the contrary: you can usefully process these in a self-service BI tool and consult them as a tried-and-tested data source. After all, Microsoft Excel  is still considered the indispensable standard tool.

Analyze Live Data too

With SSBI tools, it is not only important that you look at historical data - you should also definitely include live data. With the increasing digitalization of business processes and ever new marketing approaches, the evaluation of live data offers great potential and opportunities.

So there are a few things to consider to make SSBI work. And what advantages does the “Piggly Wiggly” approach offer you if you pay attention to the most important points?

Secure Competitive Advantages with SSBI

Your 5 Main Advantages when Specialists carry out Analyses themselves

1. Own analyses: specialists are more independent of IT

   Employees in the specialist departments can access data independently 24/7 and evaluate and analyze it. This creates a high degree of independence from IT and enables flexible working.

2. Relief for IT: you save resources

   Since the specialists create their analyses and reports without external help, they also relieve the IT department, which can focus on its central tasks and does not have to deal with the various concerns of the departments. Instead, employees look for the answers to their questions on their own.

3. Fewer interfaces: you work faster and more efficiently

   At the same time, evaluations are available more quickly because with SSBI, specialists are also able to handle short-term “ad hoc” queries - without coordinating with the IT interface.

4. Less distance to the software: BI is more likely to be accepted

   Another point: you increase the acceptance of business intelligence solutions within your entire company because every employee can use SSBI to convince themselves directly of the benefits of a business intelligence solution. This also increases motivation.

5. Inclusion of local data: you broaden the perspective

   You may be able to gain more useful information from the data because individual departments bring their different perspectives and first-hand expertise to the table.

The bottom line is that you have the opportunity to secure competitive advantages - if you use SSBI correctly and in a targeted manner in addition to classic data analysis.

The Limits of Self-service: how realistic is SSBI?

For all the advantages of self-service: as always, there is also a downside.

Lack of Technical Expertise and Data Sensitivity

With SSBI, there is sometimes a lack of technical expertise - no matter how skilled the users are. What’s more, those who don’t juggle with data on a daily basis and have experienced its pitfalls first-hand may be too relaxed about important topics such as IT security and data protection.

Flexibility becomes a Stumbling Block

Flexibility can also become a stumbling block: individual business units may tend to build dashboards that are solely tailored to the needs of their own work. However, when it comes to cross-divisional meetings, for example in the management team, this provides fodder for inefficient discussions and laborious decision-making processes.

Focus on Divisional Interests

It can happen that managers also exploit this flexibility to put their division and their decisions in a very positive light in meeting rounds - in order to push through their own interests regardless of losses.

Rethinking takes Time

SSBI requires an overall rethink in your company because employees have to get used to showing more initiative and moving away from the support of the IT department. To do this, they need to develop the appropriate mindset - as we know, this doesn’t happen overnight.

Platform Approach needed

And as I said: SSBI only works if you obtain your BI solutions from a vendor that has a platform approach - but not with a stand-alone isolated solution.

Not a Sure-fire Success - a BI Consultant is not so easy to replace

SSBI offers you the opportunity to carry out your data analyses more efficiently and secure valuable competitive advantages, but there are also limits here and you need to observe a few requirements to ensure that the whole thing works.

According to a recent study, however, self-service BI has not yet become as widespread in companies as expected. Ultimately, a real expert is not so easy to replace and you need excellent structures, rules and standards to steer SSBI in the right direction - and of course the right mindset.

This is why you still need a competent BI consultant who is familiar with every detail of your BI solution - such as Microsoft Power BI - and at the same time always has the overall view.

By the way: extensive data analysis was in the past often only firmly established in large companies and has now also arrived in SMEs. This is also reason enough for the IHK to reorganize the IT professions and combine the tasks in a specific training occupation. Since August last year, there has now been an apprenticeship as an “IT specialist for data and process analysis” .

Conclusion: although SSBI can simplify some simple processes, it cannot completely replace specialist expertise and face-to-face training. A combination of “Piggly Wiggly” and classic analysis could be a good way forward. 😊