Exploring the Future of Business Analytics: Trends & Predictions

We entered an exciting world of business analytics, where predicting customer needs, real-time anomaly detection, and precise data-driven decisions are becoming the norm.

The rapid evolution of business analytics is making this possible, and it's crucial for organizations and professionals to stay updated.

In this post, we'll touch upon the growing importance of business analytics, emerging trends, technologies, and provide some insights on how organizations can gear up for the future of business analytics. Let's dive right in!

Key Takeaways

• Business analytics has become an essential part of modern business strategy, enabled by the data explosion.
• AI-equipped BI tools such as Akkio help build synergy between human expertise and technology
• Organizations will invest in AI throughout 2024 to adapt to the ever-changing landscape. Old-school reporting is set to become outdated, mostly due to Generative AI applied to business use cases;
• Marketing platforms, such as CRMs, will implement more analytics solutions to catch up and provide their customers with KPIs efficiently

The Growing Significance of Business Analytics

An unprecedented amount of data is being generated globally, contributing to the rapid expansion of business analytics.

Because we're creating so much data, we need advanced tools like AI and machine learning - such as predictive analytics - to derive valuable insights from the vast ocean of information. To put it simply, the magic happens when we combine human expertise with AI.

This combo unlocks accurate, cost-effective, and objective decision-making. It's like having a superpower!

Modern organizations utilize advanced business analytics in order to:

• Understand their customers
• Uncover market opportunities
• Streamline operations
• Manage risk
• Make decisions grounded in data, using visualization tools

Business analytics has become an indispensable component of modern business strategy, with business analysts playing a crucial role in its implementation, utilizing business data effectively.

Data Explosion and Its Impact on Business Analytics

The rapid proliferation of structured and unstructured big data generated by individuals, organizations, and digital systems lies at the heart of the data explosion phenomenon. According to a report by IDC, the global datasphere is expected to reach 175 zettabytes by 2025, up from 33 zettabytes in 2018!

Real-time analytics leverages data from various sources, such as sensors, mobile devices, and social media, to make informed business decisions. The accuracy and reliability of these insights are contingent on robust data quality management practices.

Predictive analytics plays a pivotal role in making sense of this data deluge, employing statistical algorithms and machine learning techniques to ascertain future outcomes based on historical data.

The Synergy Between Human Expertise and AI-Generated Systems

The integration of human expertise with AI-driven systems is changing the business analytics field, once dominated by data scientists only.

Human expertise brings forth skills such as creativity, empathy, and an understanding of human tensions, while AI furnishes analytical capabilities and the capacity to think and learn. With AI, you no longer need coding skills or an extensive data background to reshape how your company looks at data.

For example, any user, regardless of their background, can generate 10 reports in Akkio in a matter of seconds. By stating an objective for a dataset, Akkio starts generating reports in the background, and returns a fully-optimized dashboards with all the KPIs you need.

Something that previously required advanced knowledge of SQL, Python, and data cleaning processes, can now be done in 5 minutes by marketers, product managers, CMO, and whoever would like to get insights from their data.

This powerful combination results in impactful and inventive solutions that capitalize on the strengths of both humans and AI. And, who knows, the artificial intelligence might be able to spot patterns you missed.

Emerging Trends in Business Analytics

As the field of business analytics continues to evolve, several emerging trends are taking center stage. These trends, such as AI-equipped business intelligence, self-service BI tools, and cloud-based analytics adoption, are transforming the way businesses analyze data and make decisions.

Organizations that keep abreast of these emerging trends can position themselves to harness the newest innovations and technologies in business analytics. Staying ahead of the curve is crucial.

Self-Service BI Tools

Growing in popularity, self-service BI tools allow businesses to gain insights independently, without requiring IT or data analyst support. The growth of self-service BI is driven by the desire for businesses to gain insights without relying on IT or data analysts, democratizing access to data-driven decision-making.

With a projected market size of $14.19 billion by 2026, self-service BI tools, including data visualization tools, are poised to play a significant role in the future of business analytics. By enabling businesses to acquire insights without external support, these business analytics tools empower organizations to make data-driven decisions and optimize their resources more effectively.

Other than Akkio, other examples of Self-Service BI Tools include:

IBM offers a range of business intelligence and analytics tools, including Cognos Analytics, Watson Analytics, and SPSS. These tools allow users to connect to various data sources, create interactive dashboards and reports, and perform advanced analytics.

Looker is a business intelligence and analytics platform that allows users to connect to various data sources and create interactive dashboards and reports. It offers a range of pre-built connectors and tools for data preparation and analysis, as well as a SQL-based modeling layer for more advanced analytics.

Microsoft offers a range of business intelligence and analytics tools, including Power BI, Excel, and SQL Server. These tools allow users to connect to various data sources, create interactive dashboards and reports, and perform advanced analytics.

Metabase is an open-source business intelligence and analytics platform that allows users to connect to various data sources and create interactive dashboards and reports. It offers a range of pre-built connectors and tools for data preparation and analysis.

Tableau is a business intelligence and analytics platform that allows users to connect to various data sources and create interactive dashboards and reports. It offers a range of pre-built connectors and tools for data preparation and analysis, as well as a drag-and-drop interface for creating visualizations.

Cloud-Based Analytics Adoption

Cloud-based analytics refers to the utilization of cloud computing to store and analyze data on remote servers. The adoption of cloud-based analytics offers numerous advantages, including scalability, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use. These benefits make cloud-based analytics an attractive option for small and medium-sized organizations looking to leverage the power of data analytics.

However, the adoption of cloud-based analytics also presents challenges, such as data security, data governance, wasted spend, and data privacy. In a survey by CloudZero, 44% of executives report that at least a third of their cloud spend is wasted.

Future Technologies Reshaping Business Analytics

The future of business analytics will be shaped by a host of innovative technologies. Speech analytics, data security and governance, and edge computing are some of the technologies that are expected to have a considerable impact on the future of business analytics. As these technologies continue to mature, their adoption will drive change in the industry, offering new opportunities for businesses to gain a competitive edge.

Organizations aiming to maintain their competitive edge and stay ahead must adopt these new technologies and commit to ongoing learning and skill development. By doing so, businesses will be better positioned to leverage the power of these emerging technologies and capitalize on the latest innovations in business analytics.

Speech Analytics

Speech analytics, a technology that analyzes spoken language, provides businesses with valuable insights to refine customer interactions and elevate customer experience. A better customer experience means better outcomes thanks to data analytics.

A report by Help Scout found that businesses can grow revenues between 4% and 8% above their market when prioritizing better customer service experiences, and 72% of companies believe they can use analytics reports to improve the customer experience.

However, the accuracy of speech analytics can be impacted by factors such as:

• Background noise
• Accents
• Speech patterns
• Language variations
• Training dataset

Many AI solutions are already capable of understanding language (it's part of the reason why ChatGPT can talk now). Whisper AI and Google's speech-to-text solutions are top-notch and third party developers might soon take advantage of the audio-to-text trend to develop solutions for analysts.

Data Security and Governance

Data security and governance are becoming increasingly important as data increases in size and value. Implementing robust practices and policies to protect and manage data in an efficient and secure manner is essential for organizations to maintain trust and comply with regulations.

Additionally, a preventive plan for data security enables businesses to expand globally without fear of regulations outside of the US. Other parts of the world, like the EU, are much more stringent on their privacy law.

For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation in the EU that came into effect in 2018, which aims to protect the privacy and personal data of EU citizens. Non-compliance with GDPR can result in fines of up to €20 million or 4% of a company's global annual revenue, whichever is higher.

Just take a look at the highest fines paid for GDPR breaches:

• Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (Instagram) - €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) - May 2023
• Amazon Europe - €746 million ($877 million) - July 2021
• Google LLC - €50 million ($57 million) - January 2019

Edge Computing

Edge computing is a distributed computing framework that enables enterprise applications to be located closer to data sources, such as IoT devices or edge servers. The adoption of edge computing in business analytics offers several benefits, including:

• Faster data processing
• Real-time insights
• Improved decision-making
• Increased operational efficiency

The implementation of edge computing comes with its own set of challenges, such as the need for specialized hardware and software, and the requirement for a high level of expertise to set up and maintain such systems.

Akkio: A Platform for the Future of Business Analytics

Akkio is a platform that enables analysts to transform data, ask questions, and gain insights without coding. Focusing on data privacy and security, Akkio implements information security controls in every part of their operations, providing a user-friendly experience that allows businesses to harness the power of AI in their analytics processes.

Companies like Management One and Ellipsis have turned to Akkio to gain valuable insights from their data. From improving internal processes to automating decision-making, Akkio’s platform is playing a crucial role in shaping the future of business analytics for companies of all sizes.

Akkio's Features and Benefits

Akkio offers a comprehensive suite of features, including AI-powered analytics, integration with multiple platforms, and a scalable pricing structure.

A few of our core features include:

1. Generative Reports: with Akkio, you don't need to generate reports manually anymore. Upload your dataset, explain what you're trying to achieve, and our custom-trained AI will generate all the reports you need to track your KPIs in minutes;
2. Chat Explore: Excel is boring. And slow. With Chat Explore, businesses can generate 20+ chart types writing their request in plain english. The GPT-4 powered model will generate the charts in seconds;
3. Chat Data Prep: conversational data preparation was imaginable a few years ago. Companies used to hire entire teams just to clean their data. Now, you can remeove outliers, cluster, and ask anything you want to Akkio and Chat Data Prep (CDP) will take care of it. No Excel formula required;
4. Predict & Forecast Machine Learning: Akkio enables anyone to ship machine learning models in the cloud or inside a data warehouse like Snowflake or BigQuery. No code is required, and the fastest training model takes only a minute to generate a result;
5. Integrations: Akkio integrates with many data sources, including Snowflake, BigQuery, Hubspot, Airtable (beta), and Google Analytics (beta). Work with your live data!

Preparing for the Future of Business Analytics

With business analytics constantly transforming, it's a thrilling ride for professionals who are eager to embrace new skills and keep pace with the latest technological advancements. Staying relevant and in-demand is all about riding the wave of change and innovation in the job market.

Embracing New Technologies

Adopting emerging technologies, such as AI-equipped BI tools and cloud-based analytics, is essential for businesses to stay ahead of the curve and optimize their decision-making processes. Incorporating new technologies brings numerous benefits to organizations like productivity and efficiency gains, a competitive advantage, improved customer experiences, and cost savings.

If your company is looking to implement new solutions, you can take a look at aggregators like G2.com and Capterra to find software that can save time and improve the productivity of your workforce.

Continuous Learning and Skill Development

Continuous learning and skill development is the process of acquiring new skills, gaining confidence, increasing productivity, fostering technological innovation, receiving career guidance, developing leadership abilities, and enhancing job security.

By investing in ongoing learning and expertise advancement, professionals can remain competitive, adapt to changing industry trends, improve job performance, and provide opportunities for career growth.

Great platforms to remain up-to-date with current trends and learn from fellow professionals include LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and Edx, which host awesome training for analysts and marketers alike.

Summary

In conclusion, the future of business analytics holds immense promise, driven by the growing significance of data and the rapid evolution of new technologies.

As we’ve explored, emerging trends such as AI-equipped business intelligence, self-service BI tools, and cloud-based analytics adoption are transforming the way businesses analyze data and make decisions. Additionally, future technologies such as speech analytics, data security and governance, and edge computing will further shape the landscape of business analytics.

To stay competitive in this ever-changing environment, organizations must embrace new technologies and invest in continuous learning and skill development.

Ready to unlock the full potential of data analytics and harness the power of AI? Drive better business outcomes with data-driven decision-making by choosing Akkio. Free trial - no credit card required.