Information has long been held as the lifeblood of organizations and, while this remains true today, the ways in which data is managed and analyzed have transformed significantly in the past decade. Thanks to a variety of trends in corporate computing technology and, of course, the Internet, companies have a wide range of opportunities to take higher volumes of information and turn them into actionable insights without holding back certain types of employees or departments.
Automation has been among the most important advances in this regard, with modern solutions helping to expedite the process of taking business data, managing it accurately and garnering the types of guidance necessary to ensuring long-term performance improvements. Organizations that do not leverage automated analytics and reporting tools are likely putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage, as these tools have already become so popular, powerful and affordable in the past few years.
When it comes to the demands of analysis and reporting, efficiency and accuracy must be the two top priorities for all businesses, and modern tools are helping to build each of these characteristics in a wide range of fashions for the average adopter. Competition is heating up across markets amid the economic recovery, and advanced reporting tools can give organizations the intelligence necessary to take control of some of the increased consumer spending and corporate provisioning that is taking place in virtually every industry.
Remember, organizations are becoming more dependent upon technology and intelligence with the passing of each year, and failure to leverage the full breadth of automated tools that improve performances in these functions can have significantly negative impacts on financial wellness over time. Do not hesitate to jump on these new solutions, as studies indicate that a wealth of competitors are already doing so.
Room for growth
International Data Corporation recently released the results of a new forecast that found corporate spending on business analytics technology is poised to continue on its torrid path of growth that has been seen for several years now. While cloud computing, mobility and the Internet of Things are experiencing similarly massive increases in demand, analytics is tied to each of these trends, and is subsequently being adopted more frequently – and for a wider variety of purposes – as the years progress.
According to the analysts, the market for business analytics tools and services will expand at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 14.7 percent between this year and 2018. This would translate to a projected $51.6 billion in revenues this year, and $89.6 billion in 2018, further highlighting just how resilient the market is in expanding upon already strong adoption rates and purchasing volumes.
Keep in mind that these technologies are already becoming more affordable, meaning a larger sum of units will need to be sold to sustain these revenue increases, while researchers believe this will not be a problem in the slightest.
"As more business data gets consolidated and is made available to executives, outsourced big data and analytics services will continue to get embedded and pervade deeper into the enterprise," Mukesh Dialani, IDC's research director for global BPO and engineering services, affirmed. "As these services become a key component in ensuring the agility and effectiveness of an enterprise's business processes and vendors are able to provide a diverse range of industry-specific use cases and assist customers in preparing a business case, customer adoption will increase. Vendors will also focus on acquiring or partnering with technology firms that provide unique big data or analytics IP to create differentiated offerings and create additional capabilities including highly skilled talent that will enable them to offer services across the value chain."
In summation, businesses that have not yet started to provision reporting and analytics solutions are likely to fall behind the curve, as this research indicates a wide range of companies are already doing so around the globe.
Why analytics software?
The most intelligent, well-managed and optimized working environments will tend to be the most successful, and these pieces of software have proven to have profoundly positive impacts on the average organization's oversight and execution of tasks. Data volumes will continue to rise at exponential rates – there is no denying this truth – for years to come, and analytics software allows companies to not be crushed by what would be weighty demands on their own systems and storage environments.
From streamlining accounts payable and receivable to better overseeing business processes and workflow, analytics will simply boost the accuracy and efficiency of decision-making to bring the company to more prolific levels of performance in real-time. Beginning with tools that are usable out-of-the-box, not placing too much strain on IT departments and working in an intuitive fashion for users can be a strong first step in the right direction for the average organization.
