IMPROVING

USER ADOPTION
Bridging the gap between Data and Users
Table of Contents

What’s Inside?
User Adoption of Analytics: A Chronic Malady 04
- Why User Adoption?
- Economics of User Adoption

Current State of User Adoption 06

- User Adoption Survey
- Key Findings from the Survey

Seven Impediments to User Adoption 08

- IT Dependence and Lack of Self-Service
- Data Access Issues
- Data Literacy Issues
- Lack of Insights and Usability
- Process and Methodology Issues
- Lack of Business Value
- People and Culture Issues

User Adoption Framework 15

- Typical User Adoption Journey
- User Adoption Framework for Analytics

Five Strategies to Drive User Adoption 17

- Enterprise Information Portal
- Road to Data Literacy
- Enabling Self-Service Analytics
- Data Storytelling
- Operationalizing Augmented Analytics

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 According to McKinsey Global
Institute, data-driven organizations
are not only 23 times more likely to
acquire customers, but they are also
six times as likely to retain
customers and 19 times more likely
to be profitable!
However, without high adoption
rates, the results simply will not be
there!

This book is a guide on

“How to bridge the gap between data and end users.”

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Current State of
User Adoption

90%
Enterprise data is never analyzed

Business

IT
61%
Business users depend on IT teams
for analyzing data

50%
Information lying in silos

35%
BI and Modern Analytics
adoption rate

24%
Data literacy rate of enterprise
decisions-makers
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Section 1
USER ADOPTION OF ANALYTICS
A CHRONIC MALADY
Why User Adoption?
The world today is changing faster than it
ever was. Trends that would have earlier
lasted for months now change in weeks. In
this fast-changing world, agility triumphs over
strength; if you are slow to react, you might
lose out on significant opportunities. Faster
decision-making is critical. The ability to
instantly access and understand data
translates into speedier decision-making,
which enables organizational agility.
When employees have instant access to
required data, they can make fast, accurate
decisions. Data, when interpreted correctly,
can empower decision-makers to reduce risk
and act decisively. So, per the McKinsey
Global Institute research cited on page 2,
anyone who does not want to improve user
adoption must present a very compelling and
(ironically) data-backed argument against it!
Are enterprises there yet? Not at all. Here
are some numbers that tell the story of the
sorry state of user adoption as it stands
today:
According to Gartner, organizational BI and
analytics adoption is hovering at about 30%.
A Harvard Business Review Analytic Services
(HBR AS) survey recently stated this number
to be 27%. In the 2019 Gartner Analytics
and BI Magic Quadrant customer reference
survey, the average modern analytics and BI
Adoption rate is 35%. If you think that AI
and Big Data do better, here is an alarming
discovery by NewVantage Partners’ 2019
Big Data and AI Executive Survey: 77% of
executives report that business adoption of
Big Data/AI initiatives is a significant
challenge, up from 65% last year. Long story
short - lack of user adoption is a chronic
malady that has ailed IT executives for a
very long time.
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Economics of User Adoption:

An enterprise that invests $2 million on an analytics platform assuming that 10,000

business users will use the platform, calculates the cost at $200 per user per year. This
sounds fair since it includes elements such as licensing, services, and maintenance.

If 25%, or 2,500 users use the platform, the cost per user escalates 400% to $800 per
user per year.

A marginal improvement in user adoption from 2,500 users to 3,000 users brings down
the cost per user by $134.

Double the user adoption rate means half the cost per user. An improved user adoption
rate offers more bang for your buck.

This book outlines :

 Reasons for poor user adoption as indicated by the InfoCepts survey

 Analysis of the reasons to identify the root causes for poor user adoption

 Our User Adoption Framework for Analytics (UAFA) for your assessment

 Five strategies to help you drive user adoption

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Section 2

CURRENT STATE OF
USER ADOPTION

User Adoption Survey

The commonly cited challenges to user
adoption range from poor user experience
to unavailability of data and from poor report
performance to the inability to understand
data. While each of these reasons is valid,
they are also highly contextual. To bridge the
gap between data and users, we carried out
a survey. We asked analytics practitioners in
our customer base to list the top five
reasons that negatively impact user
adoption. We received responses from 207
of these practitioners who work across
different industries and geographies.
After merging similar reasons, we narrowed
down the list to 60 reasons. We analyzed
these 60 reasons and classified them into
seven broad categories.
Each of these categories can be thought of
as a root cause or an impediment for the
associated reasons and their symptoms.
The graphic on the next page enlists these
categories with the top four reasons
associated with these categories.

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Key Findings
from the Survey

Lack of self-service BI capabilities

Too much dependency on the IT team IT Dependence
and Lack of
Lack of coordination between teams
Self-Service
Rigid development process

Data in silos
Data
Required information is not handy
Access
Not getting access to relevant reports
Issues
Rigid data security

Users are unable to understand data

Not aware of design best practices Data Literacy
Capability development and training Issues
Lack of awareness about the tool/platform

Poor user experience and user interface design

Lack of
Not able to deep dive into data
Insights and
Usability
Lack of predictive and descriptive features
Multiple BI tools causing inconsistent experience

Development process is flawed

Process and
Lack of change management process
Methodology
Data is not trustworthy
Too many cooks in the kitchen Issues

Complicated information hierarchy

Lack of
Missing “the big picture”
Business
Value
Lack of actionable insights
Too many KPIs but of no value

Poor collaboration among key stakeholders

People and
Lack of awareness
Culture
Lack of leadership involvement Issues
Lack of organizational focus

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Section 3

SEVEN COMMON IMPEDIMENTS

TO USER ADOPTION

1. IT Dependence and Lack of

Self-Service:
If business teams are too dependent on IT for reporting and analytics, the limited bandwidth
of the IT team becomes a bottleneck. Being forced to excessively rely on IT teams frustrates
business users, particularly if the result is not to their liking. Besides, a lack of business
understanding of the IT team means more struggles for the business teams. Naturally,
business users start avoiding using analytics unless they absolutely have to. This lowers user
adoption. The following four issues are top reasons for poor user adoption:

Lack of self-service BI capabilities: Too much dependency on the IT

Most enterprises offer limited self-service
capabilities. When business users find their
self-service capabilities insufficient, they have
to depend on IT teams for analysis and
insights.
Lack of coordination between IT
and Business teams:
When priorities of the IT teams differ from
the priorities of Business teams, there is
confusion. This delays time-to-insights,
frustrating business users and reducing
adoption rates.
team:
The inability to perform exploratory data
analysis without the IT team’s involvement
pushes users to rely on “read-only” reports,
increasing unrest and further preventing
user adoption.
Rigid and protracted
development process:
Unless a process guarantees results,
business users are reluctant about investing
time in it. A rigid and lengthy development
process ensures that business users lose
interest and become wary of analytics.

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2. Data Access Issues:
Analytics, like any other product, should be user-friendly to be effective and popular. Often,
users don’t have access to relevant reports. Sometimes, they cannot access relevant
reports due to minor issues like network connectivity or even forgotten passwords. In such
cases, when users find it tedious to access relevant data, they quickly lose interest. This lack of
access can be painful to resolve, especially if there is a lengthy process for approvals. Not
having access to the right data is a major irritant for business users. Our survey results have
found the following manifestations of data access issues:

Data in silos Not getting access to relevant

Information silos are a common challenge in
organizations either because data is not
shared amongst departments or source
systems are not integrated. This leads to
problems such as unavailability of data,
limited or no access to interdepartmental
data, no single source of truth, and
duplication of efforts. Silos severely restrict
the exchange of information within
departments, forcing users to make
decisions based on limited datasets.
Rigid data security
While data security is imperative, an inflexible
data security policy adversely affects user
adoption. 61% of our respondents stated
that when users have to overcome multiple
procedural hurdles just to access data and
reports, they lose interest and start avoiding
use of analytics apps.
reports or data
The most common reason cited by users for
not using analytics is a lack of access. 74%
of our survey respondents cited "Not
getting access to relevant reports or data"
as the top reason for poor user adoption.
Required information is not
handy
Enterprises often do everything right when it
comes to analytics, and yet end up facing
user adoption issues. In our survey, 57% of
respondents complained that information is
not handy and takes a lot of time to access
and compile. While it can often be a usability
issue, most times it is a data access issue.
Users need to go through multiple loops of
permissions and approvals to access the
required information. This delay adversely
impacts user adoption.

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COMMON IMPEDIMENTS TO USER ADOPTION

3. Data Literacy Issues:

The most common form of data literacy issues is when users are unable to understand the data
they are consuming. User adoption suffers when users don’t understand data. Simply assuming
that business users understand business processes and the data associated with these
processes is wrong. It is also possible that users are unable to understand the way the data is
organized or presented. In either case, the cause is inadequate data literacy. In our survey, we
found the following reasons for poor user adoption stemming from data literacy issues:

Lack of awareness about the Need for capability development

capabilities of the tool/platform and training

When business users are unaware of the When the data capabilities of the analytics
features and capabilities of the analytics team are not up to the mark, user adoption
platform, they don’t know how to use it and takes a hit. Some common symptoms of
ultimately don’t use it. poor capabilities are:

Not aware of design best • Not able to visualize data in the desired
practices way
• Unaware of how to represent data in the
When technical people develop dashboards
most meaningful way
and analytics apps they make basic errors in
• Lack of improvement post-training
design. This poor design leads to complicated
• Lack of motivation for learning new
workflows and un-insightful data, which in
technology
turn results in poor adoption rates.

Users are unable to understand

data

In our survey, 47% of users complained

about not being able to understand data. We
have seen this number underreported in the
past as users don’t want to reveal their lack
of competence.

1O
4. Lack of Insights and Usability:
21st century applications cannot just survive with poor user experience. All users are turned
off by unintuitive, complicated workflows and poorly designed user interfaces. When users
have to spend precious time performing frustrating tasks, they avoid using analytics apps. Lack
of business insights means the time spent doing exploratory analysis was a waste. There’s a
direct correlation between poor user experience and poor user adoption. In our survey, we
found the following reasons corresponding to insights and usability:

Poor user experience and user Multiple BI tools causing

interface design inconsistent experience

Roughly three-quarters (73%) of our survey
respondents cited poor user experience as
one of the reasons for poor user adoption.
Non-intuitive, tedious apps are a turn-off for
users and a major roadblock to user
adoption.
Not able to deep dive into data
Most enterprises have multiple BI tools.
Each tool has its own features and must be
used differently. Inconsistencies in the
nomenclature and design of applications
further increases confusion. When users are
confused, they desist from using analytics.
59% of our respondents cited this as a
reason for poor user adoption.

Lack of deep-dive capabilities means users

can just see the data, but can't make sense
of the underlying reasons behind the
numbers or trends. In such cases, they lose
interest in analysis and adoption rates suffer,
as cited by 66% of our respondents.

Lack of predictive and descriptive

features

Some business users expect predictive

features that can help them make better
decisions. When analytical apps don’t have
predictive and descriptive features, users
don’t see the value in investing their time in
such apps.

11
COMMON IMPEDIMENTS TO USER ADOPTION

5. Process and Methodology Issues:

An organization’s journey to data-driven decision-making can come to a standstill due to
untrustworthy data. Poor data quality delivers unreliable outputs that create doubt in the minds
of decision-makers who then avoid using it. An organization can overcome this issue through a
fool-proof data acquisition and management process. A well-defined process and methodology
ensures data quality and offers a single version of truth everyone can trust. 84% of our survey
respondents feel that untrustworthy data makes them question the efficacy of their processes.
Following are the indicators of a poor development process/methodology:

The development process is Data is untrustworthy

flawed
As stated above, five in six users cited the
Analytics projects differ from typical IT lack of trust in data as the biggest roadblock
projects as requirements are unclear - in to user adoption. Across the spectrum of
most cases, users don’t know what enterprises, this is the most common issue
correlations to look for. The very purpose of impacting user adoption.
building analytics is to discover unknown
relationships. Unfortunately, this makes it Too many cooks in the kitchen
easier to mess up the development process.
While data democratization means making
Lack of an efficient change the analytics process more inclusive, it
management process doesn’t demand involving too many
stakeholders in the process. Too many
Whenever a new tool or report is deployed, cooks can cause confusion and any
change management must be thought dependence on others affects user
through. When users aren’t adequately adoption.
empowered with the context and know-how
of the tool, they are understandably reluctant
to change their set ways. 46% of respondents
in our survey mentioned that lack of an
adequate change management process
adversely impacts user adoption.

12
6. Lack of Business Value:
Non-actionable analytics are nothing more than exciting trivia. Unless business users see
value in the analytics they are using, their interest will remain marginal. When business users
see analytics as a compliance- or compulsion-driven activity and not as their core task, user
adoption suffers. Our survey revealed some interesting responses; the following three were
the most common:

Complicated information Missing “the big picture”

hierarchy
While all applications intend to make
business users’ life easier, only a fraction
succeed. Those that fail, end up complicating
things. Users may have to access multiple
reports/dashboards to collect the
information they need to make decisions.
Users hate performing these tasks and stop
using such apps - causing the user adoption
rates to suffer.
The most common problem - even with
well-designed analytical apps - is that they fail
to provide a holistic picture of the state of
the business. Fragmented or scattered
insights result in frustration and encourage
gut-based decision making. On the other
hand, when decision-makers have a holistic
picture of their business through data,
decision-making improves. When analytics
apps fail to provide “the big picture”, user
adoption decreases.

Lack of actionable insights

One of the most common causes of poor

user adoption (with 69% of our survey
respondents citing it as a reason for poor
user adoption) is the lack of (perceived or
actual) business value.

13
COMMON IMPEDIMENTS TO USER ADOPTION

7. People and Culture Issues:

While analyzing all the other roadblocks to user adoption, we cannot forget one of the core
difficulties - people and cultural issues. In our survey, there were several reasons that
respondents cited that point to this set of issues. Most of these issues seem easy to tackle;
however, they are actually difficult to address.

Communication - lack of Lack of organizational focus

awareness
Strange as it may sound, user adoption is
often low because users are just not aware
of the existence of analytics tools apps. Users
are unaware of the training programs and
lack the know-how of data interpretation.
Most users forget about the analytics apps
after using them once or twice.
Lack of leadership involvement
The transformation to a data-driven state is a
‘top-down’ transition. Unless leadership is
aligned and entirely on-board, data analytics
initiatives fail. Even if there is high-level
agreement but inadequate involvement from
leadership, user adoption suffers because
teams often follow their leaders. Unless the
boss frequently uses analytics, teams don’t
follow suit.
When some department silos use analytics
but others don’t, user adoption suffers. Lack
of organizational focus on becoming
data-driven is detrimental to user adoption.
Often, there is a conflict of interest between
business functions and analytical insights.
Data uncovers inefficiencies that users don’t
want exposed. Organization-wide focus is
imperative in such cases. In our survey, 37%
respondents cited this as a reason for poor
user adoption.
Poor collaboration among key
stakeholders
When stakeholders aren’t on the same
page, it leads to confusion and constant
changes in requirements. This shifting of
goalposts leads to analytics apps and
dashboards that please nobody.

14
 Bridging the Gap

Between Data and Users

15
Section 4

TYPICAL USER ADOPTION

JOURNEY

To drive better user adoption for analytics projects we analyzed typical user adoption
journey (depicted in the image below). This journey has three stages - Aspirational,
Experienced and Transformed. To support enterprises in this journey, we have created a
comprehensive User Adoption Framework for Analytics (UAFA).

Transformed
05 Adoption
Turns ability into action and uses
capabilities as intended

04 Action
Increases the required knowledge and
investigates services
Experienced

03 Desire
User sees the value proposition and is
ready to acquire the desired skills

02 Interest
User sees value in the potential outcome;
researches more
Aspirational
VALUE

01 Awareness
User has basic knowledge of technology,
platforms, access, and who’s who

TIME

16
User Adoption
Framework for Analytics

ASPIRATIONAL EXPERIENCED TRANSFORMED

BI Readiness BI Capability Data

& Maturity & Functional Democratization
Higher
Assessment Roadmap
Integrated Number
Culture Data Literacy Mobile BI Information of Users
Initiative Strategy Architecture

Business Use
Cases
Data Information Augmented
Technology Catalog Portals Analytics
Initiatives Analytics
Drives
CURRENT STATE

Data & Design Thinking Measure BI

TO BE STATE
Business
Analytics Development Adoption
Roadmap Process
Self-Service
Process Defined
Data Storytelling BI Enablement
Framework Framework

Revised Training
Established Data
Training Gamification
Literacy Program
People Roadmap
& Skills Training
Leaderboard Analytics
CoE is Fully
Operational
Analytics Initiate Evaluate
CoE Governance Governance
Governance Started Definition Structure

To achieve transformational results for user adoption, organizations must invest in multiple
initiatives. Our UAFA suggests several initiatives across Cultural, Technological, Process & Skills,
and Governance areas. By applying this framework in your context and prioritizing accordingly,
you can take concrete steps to move toward your desired state. We discuss five initiatives
(highlighted in the image) in the next section of this book.

17
Section 5

FIVE STRATEGIES
TO DRIVE USER ADOPTION

01 02 03 04 05
ENTERPRISE ROAD TO ENABLING DATA OPERATION-
INFORMATION DATA SELF-SERVICE STORYTELLING ALIZING
PORTAL LITERACY ANALYTICS AUGMENTED
ANALYTICS

In this section we describe five initiatives

that enable you to improve user adoption
for your analytics applications. Each of
these initiatives addresses different root
causes and bridges the gap between data
and users resulting in improved user
adoption.

18
1. ENTERPRISE
INFORMATION PORTALS

Integrate all Your Analytical Assets in

a Centralized Platform
One of the best ways to get rid of data silos is to make data easily accessible to both technical &
non-technical users through a unified enterprise platform. An Information Portal is an
interactive application that contains a centralized repository of data, reports, dashboards and
enterprise-level analytics applications. It is a secure platform enabling multiple users to access
data specific to their business functions. It ensures quick access to data, org dashboards and
self-service data exploration while providing a 360-degree view of data, without any dependency
on third-party responses.

Key Features That Information There should be a personalized reports

Portals Must Possess:
1. Personalization: Providing quick access to
Dashboards, Reports and KPIs. The KPIs
should be easily configurable, searchable
and customizable. The approach should
be persona-based to enable a customized,
feature-rich user experience.
section that allows users to view recently
accessed reports, key KPIs, dashboards,
frequently used reports, etc.
2. Secure Access: Portal should Integrate
with enterprise security LDAP,
authorization, centralized security policy
management and enforcement to ensure

19
 data security. Single-sign-on (SSO) Key Differentiators to Enhance
integrated with LDAP for governed Information Portals:
datasets should be available. Access to
multiple data sources and BI tools.

• High interactivity, feature-rich &

3. Collaboration: Portal should enable users
collaborative user interface
to collaborate & publish reports, download
& subscribe to a dataset and schedule &
• More personalized and customizable
refresh data. It should empower users to
features
share content and insights to collaborate
with colleagues and take action.
• Rich user interface design with
seamless navigation
4. User Interface: Modern user interface
design that adheres to corporate branding
• Hassle-free customer journey - from
and industry-specific design best practices.
data access to deriving actionable
It should contain a well-defined
insights from the data
information hierarchy with a structured
layout to upload, extract, load, store and
• Responsive layout to access
analyze information.
information through web and mobile

5. Monitoring & Alerts: Real-time

• Thorough information governance
dashboards to provide a 360-degree view
of business should be available. An alerting
• Faster access to information
mechanism to highlight important changes
to data should be in place.

Access Visualize Analyze Notifications

Critical Functions Data

of an Ideal Publish

Information Portal Search

Explore
The image alongside depicts
must-have features any Information Integrate Automate
Portal must possess in addition to
Consume
an interactive user experience with
seamless navigation. Collaboration
Status Tracking

20
2. ROAD TO
DATA LITERACY
Addressing Data Literacy Issues
Improves User Adoption
Data-aware users find more value in analytics. For enterprises to reap benefits of the data-
driven culture we spoke about in section 1, data literacy is a must.
Empowering Users to Build a
Data-Driven Culture:
Gartner expects that 80% of organizations
will initiate deliberate competency
development in the field of data literacy to
overcome extreme deficiencies.
To develop a data-driven culture,
organizations must make data literacy a key
priority. However, a data-driven culture
cannot exist if users don’t understand how to
use data and what to make of the numbers.
Data literacy programs train users to make
the right decisions based on the right data
inputs.
Becoming a data literate organization does
not happen overnight, but instead the
organization needs to nurture competency
building continuously. Organizations are still
struggling to take appropriate steps to fix
the skill gap. Driving data literacy initiatives
requires a cultural change rather than just a
technology-driven initiative. Though the list
of data literacy initiatives might be similar,
the initiatives need to be tuned to match
each organization’s maturity model and
individuals’ needs. Apart from this, users
need to get familiar with interpreting and
analyzing raw data.
21
Kickstarting Data Literacy with
an Assessment Program
To define a data literacy road map for your
organization, you first need to categorize
your data users considering their:
• Role
• Maturity level
• Ability to adapt to new technologies
• Ability to make data-driven decisions
• Business and domain understanding
There are multiple techniques and tools for
evaluating data literacy competencies, and
most courses or workshops include a pre-
and post-assessment.
The gaps identified in the assessment
program should be mapped with the below-
mentioned competencies.
Essential Competencies of Data Literacy
• Data processing and analysis
• Data management
• Data preservation
• Database and data formats
• Ethics and attribution
• Data quality and documentation
• Data curation and reuse
• Data conversion and interoperability
• Data visualization and data storytelling
• Discovery and acquisition
• Metadata and data description
• Cultures of practice
Persona Identification:
Once the gaps are identified per the
competencies framework, we need to
identify a persona for each of the
competencies. Data literacy programs
need to be run based on this persona-
competency mapping.
Data Literacy Program Modes:
• Classroom courses - traditional, instructor
led courses to improve data literacy, data
interpretation and statistical analysis skills
• Self-paced learning - online courses for
users who can't be covered through the
classroom route
• Workshops - special short term
workshops aimed at teaching specific
competencies to a focused audience
• Online Certification - only tests for
self-learners who don’t feel the need to
learn through any of the other three
modes mentioned above
Train the Trainer Program:
Having an effective "train the trainer”
program is critical to the success of any
data literacy initiative. As a best practice, all
trainers should be extensively trained and
certified on the competency they are trying
to improve.
30-60-90 Day Plan:
Create a 30-60-90 day plan and track all the
activities based on this plan. Ensure that all
the stakeholders are on board with this plan
and follow it meticulously.
22
Data Literacy
Roadmap
The image below shows the ideal data literacy roadmap. It can vary depending on the
organizational maturity level and the outcome of the initial assessment.

DEFINE IDENTIFY DATA

IDENTIFY
ASSESSMENT COMPETENCY LITERACY
GAPS
METRICS PERSONAS

ESTABLISH A
DEFINE TRAIN 30-60-90
DATA LITERACY
ROADMAP THE TRAINER DAY PLAN
PROGRAM

GAMIFICATION GOVERNANCE

Additional measures to successfully implement data literacy programs:

• Identify a Data Champion - to share best practices and guide others
• Data Hackathon - channelize the competitive spirit
• Add gamification - use data games, quizzes and storytelling challenges
• Roadshows events - like a Data Literacy Day
• Follow an iterative approach - to enable continuous improvement

23
3. ENABLING
SELF-SERVICE ANALYTICS

Empower Business Users to Analyze

Data to Gain Critical Insights
Once the organization is empowered with data, self-service analytics provides an excellent
platform for business users to create a data-driven culture. It ensures that business users get
insights when they need it without relying on the IT team.

When business users have a better We have created a structured, 3-phased

understanding of data and understand how
it can be utilized to accelerate decision-
making process, it leads to increased
adoption. However, enabling self-service
analytics is not an easy task. There are a lot
of challenges and essential aspects which
require a methodological and structured
approach.
For example:
• Governance Strategy
• Data Preparation
• Data Quality
• Data Security and Privacy
• Data Management
self-service enablement approach that
addresses five areas:
1. Systems
2. Use Case
3. Process
4. People and Skill
5. Governance
This roadmap ensures that an organization
moves from their as-is state to the desired
state without missing any of the challenges
or essential aspects of self-service
enablement mentioned above.
The as-is and the desired states differ for
each organization; connect with us to get
insights on how to generate a tailored
roadmap for your organization.

24
Three Phases to Enable

Self-Service Analytics

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Matured BI
Separate Self- Data Preparation Business Driven
Systems

Reports in
Service BI & Business Rule/ Self-Service
Self-ServicePower Users
Environment KPI Definition Environment
Environment Manage
Self-Service
Revised Content On-going Training Training (Except Infra)
People
& Skill

Training Generation Training & Gamification Leader

Roadmap Documentation board

Self-Service BI Data Standard Best Adoption

Process

Enablement Storytelling Practices & Framework

Self-Service
Framework Framework Templates
Analytics
Drives
Business Users Create Incorporate Key Define Additional
Business
Cases
Use

Use-Case Basic Reports Existing Use- Business Use

Catalogs Cases in EDW Cases

Set up Data Initiate Initiate Regular Business Advanced

Governance

Governance & Governance Governance Support Analytics

Quality Team Structure Team
Definition

Phase 1: Focuses on the system, use case and process while defining KPIs, data preparation &
business rules and creating basic reports.
Phase 2: Focuses on defining frameworks and templates.
Phase 3: Focuses on governance, ensuring all the frameworks and processes are followed to
ensure self-service implementation.

25
Typical Self-Service Implementation Journey

The image below depicts a typical self-service implementation journey. Beginning with data
acquisition and preparation, it moves toward a collaborative decision model. As you can see,
each stage has multiple components.

Data Prep/ Iden�fy Analysis/ Sharing/

Source Visualiza�ons Collabora�ons

Acquire Prepare Visualize Explore Enhance Collaborate

• Excel and • Preparing • Drag-Drop • Data • Scripting • Comments

Flat Files Datasets Feature Exploration • NLP • Mobile Access
• Cloud • Merging • Sort/Rank • Dashboard/ • AI/ML • Export
• Connect to • Appending Data Reports • Predictive • Publish
Multiple • Custom • Chats • Data • Customization • Collaboration
Source Hierarchy Visualizations Storytelling • 3rd Party • Share Point
Systems • Custom • Table/KPI • Narrative Visualization Integration
Calculations • Advance • Storyboarding Integration
• Grouping Visualizations • Data • Automation
• Formatting • Mapping Visualizations • Embedded BI
Values

Benefits of Self-Service Analytics:

1. Less dependence on IT: Self-service lowers dependence on IT teams, users can import
and explore data on their own whenever they want. This improves user adoption rates.

2. Collaboration: Self-service enables better collaboration between teams, reducing data

silos and improving user adoption.

3. Access to multiple data sources: Users can connect to multiple data sources and get
instant insights that would have otherwise taken days or weeks to derive. This improves
user experience and time to insight which in turn improves user adoption.

4. Ease of change management: Self-service simplifies change management as authorized

users can make minor changes in the dashboards/apps themselves.

26
4. DATA
STORYTELLING

Tell Compelling Data Stories to Drive

User Adoption
Communicating actionable insights through visual and narrative stories is popularly known as
“Data Storytelling”. Data storytelling skills are an essential aspect of gaining and communicating
quick insights from data.

Once users gain access to data, the most
challenging part is to communicate business
insights in a more meaningful way. Data
storytelling is becoming vital to communicate
quick insights from data. However,
organizations lack the skills required for
effective use of visualization to create
meaningful dashboards/reports.
Importance of Data Storytelling
in User Adoption
Even when user have access to the right
data, the most challenging part is to
communicate business insights in a
meaningful way. The following reasons
reported by our survey respondents point
to the issue of lack of data storytelling:

27
 In most organizations, BI developers or
• Lack of actionable insight business analysts choose the visualizations
to be deployed in dashboards/reports.
• Inappropriate information hierarchy
While data users might understand data,
• Ineffective use of visualizations they lack the skills to represent it visually. To
overcome these gaps, organizations need to
• Lack of flexibility and interactivity train data users to communicate actionable
insights through visual and narrative stories.
• Longer time to insight
Adding a data storyteller role to your team
Operationalizing the data storytelling is the best way to operationalize data
approach ensures reduced time to insight storytelling. A data storytelling expert does
and more meaningful outcomes for the more than just put pretty pictures and
users along with ease of operations. All these graphs on a page. They are design
factors drive better user adoption and that's professionals with a deep understanding of
why data storytelling is critical in efforts to how people work and learn. They put these
improve user adoption. talents to the test, designing advanced
analytics applications that convey
How to Operationalize Data information quickly and clearly so that busy
Storytelling decision-makers can make better decisions
faster. To understand how to become a
Creating useful dashboards involves an Data Storyteller, please refer to our "Guide
understanding of; to Becoming a Data Storyteller".
• Knowledge of Business and data
• Representation of data using best practices
of design and visualization
• Optimum use of technology.

YTD (DEC W3D1) WTD (DEC W3D1)

TY Plan LY 2-Yr TY Plan LY 2-Yr

Data to Insights Business Group 1

Business Group 2
-0.41
-9.88
-0.42 5.05 04.64
-11.95 -14.65 -24.53
Business Group 3 -10.65 -12.73 -14.48 -25.12
Business
Business
Business
Group
Group
Group
1
2
3
-8.44 2.98 2.36 -1.44
-1.04 4.36 6.10 -2.64
-0.90 -7.58 2.22 2.70
Business Group 4 +1.87 -0.04 5.33 3.46 Business Group 4 -8.23 1.96 -1.65 4.93
Business Group 5 -2.68 -1.74 -1.75 -4.42 Business Group 5 2.09 4.63 -9.80 -0.79

BUSINESS GROUP 3
BUSINESS GROUP 2 BUSINESS GROUP 4
BUSINESS GROUP 1

-9.88%
-10.65% TY
1.87%
BUSINESS GROUP 5

-0.41% TY
TY TY
-2.68% TY

Plan LY 2Year Plan LY 2Year Plan LY 2Year Plan LY 2Year Plan LY 2Year
-0.42% 5.05% 4.64% -11.95% -14.65% -24.53% -12.73% -14.48% -25.12% -0.04% 5.33% 3.46% -1.74% -1.75% -4.42%

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D

J F M A M J J A S O N D

28
5. OPERATIONALIZING
AUGMENTED ANALYTICS
Take Your Analytics to The Next
Frontier of Innovation
According to Gartner, “50 percent of analytics queries will be generated via search using
natural-language processing or voice, or will be automatically generated.”
Understanding Augmented
Analytics
Augmented analytics is the technology of the
future. Gartner’s research describes it as a
new data analysis approach that automates
insights using machine learning and
natural-language generation (NLG). It
transforms how analytical content is
developed, consumed and shared while
accelerating the time to insights for
businesses. These insights enable users to
act quickly on the data and make day-to-day
decisions.
How Does it Impact User
Adoption?
Augmented analytics capabilities increase
end-user adoption by making analytics
simpler and easier to use. Augmented
analytics are a critical feature of self-service
data preparation, modern BI and analytics,
and data science platforms. More
importantly, automated insights features
can be embedded into enterprise
applications and conversational analytics,
mainstreaming their usage.
29
The following three capabilities are needed to operationalize augmented analytics:

1. Conversational Analytics:

In this simple approach, a conversational UI

or a ChatBot is integrated into an analytics
application. The application provides a chat
interface integrated with prebuilt-automated
insights and NLP capabilities that enable
users to perform very simple interactions to
gain insights about their business queries.

2. Automated Insights - search 3. Narrative Insights:

over selected data sets:
Narrative insights combine the art of data
In this approach, we build a UI platform to storytelling with Natural Language
interact with data through Natural Generation (NLG) capabilities.
Language Processing (NLP) and Natural
Language Queries (NLQ). Users can search With narrative insights, users gain inputs in
using simple English to get insights. Instead the form of narratives, in addition to Data
of creating tedious SQL queries to answer Visualizations. NLG capabilities interpret this
questions, users can pose questions to an data and generate English commentary
AI-enabled interface that answers your (narrative) on the underlying data. As a
queries using “natural language”. The result, instead of trying to derive patterns or
platform quickly processes the data and relationships from standalone visualizations,
shows relevant results in the report section. users can act on NLG-powered
recommendations.

Narrative Insights
IMPACT OF INVENTORY SHORTAGE FOR RESPECTIVE CATEGORY IN S. CALIFORNIA
TOP 5 PERFORMING CATEGORIES

Apparel TOP RECOMMENDATIONS

Apparel
Groceries & Daily Product 25 % MORE APPAREL STOCK LOADING.
Electronics
10 % MORE DISCOUNT & 23 % STOCK
Home & Kitchen
Home & Kitchen REPLENISHMENT FOR HOME AND KITCHEN
APPLIANCES.
Sports Accessories
Sports Accessories 12% LESS DEAD STOCK IN DAILY NEED
Electronics PRODUCT.
Groceries & Daily Product
0 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% SOUTH CALIFORNIA
0 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Inventory stock in hand PREDICTED REVENUE L��� 12 %
ACTUAL PLANNED
ACTUAL INVENTORY PLANNED INVENTORY
STOCK TURNOVER STOCK TURNOVER

Before After

30
How Do We Operationalize It?

At InfoCepts, we excel at operationalizing Next Gen BI capabilities using a custom development

approach or by using 3rd party plug-ins like Wordsmith. These analytics can be seamlessly
integrated with your preferred enterprise BI tools. Our persona-based implementation strategy
keeps the user at the center of development, and ensures that each user's specific needs are
catered to. For example, for a CXO, a voice-guided analytics solution works better, while for a
data analyst, Machine Learning-powered narrative insights are more suitable. Our experience in
Data Storytelling, coupled with Augmented Analytics, drives better User Adoption.

Case in point: We developed an award-winning augmented analytics solution for the CXOs
of a leading global financial services company. Our google-like search solution used Machine
Learning to provide insights to the CXOs through a simple, NLP-powered engine.

User Adoption has been a problem that has plagued the analytics industry for long. In this
book, we have highlighted a few solutions that will enable you to drive better user adoption.
These are, however, only a part of the larger framework. To know more about improving
user adoption visit our website www.infocepts.com

31
Author

Shantanu Dixit heads the Data Storytelling CoE at InfoCepts. He has 18 years of Data
Visualization & UI/UX Design experience and has established a dedicated team of
cross-skilled Data Storytellers along the journey. His Data Storytelling methodologies
combine creative and analytical skills to drive effective communication of actionable insights
among business users.

Shantanu has successfully spearheaded User Adoption and Data Democratization initiatives
for multiple enterprises through the art of innovative Data Storytelling. Reach out to him at
sdixit@infocepts.com, or follow him on LinkedIn.

Contributors

This book was conceptualized and designed by the InfoCepts Marketing team led by Kartik
Girish Vyas with key contributions from Ashay Vaidya (Editing), and Chetan Gudadhe
(Graphics).

Scan the QR code to access our e-books & guides -

https://www.infocepts.com/events/microstrategyworld2020/

For more information visit:

www.infocepts.com or write to - sales@infocepts.com

32
Innovate, Automate & Accelerate
We automate your Analytics through innovative solutions and
accelerator products, such that it becomes a means to accelerate
business outcomes.

Do More with Less

With a proven Onshore/Offshore methodology, our teams average a
1:4 ratio in comparison to our peers who typically require double
the effort to achieve the same success.

Recognized by Gartner
As one of the top 40 Data & Analytics Services firms worldwide
in Gartner’s Market Guide for Data and Analytics Service
Providers.

Exclusively Focused on Data

Unlike others striving to be good at numerous things, InfoCepts has
made a conscious decision to be the very best at 1 thing – Data. All
1200+ InfoCeptians are focused on making the most out of your teams’
Analytics environment.

Setting Industry Standards

With a 96% Customer Retention & a 4.7% Employee Attrition Rate.
© 2020 InfoCepts. All Rights Reserved.

Recognized by Gartner amongst the Top 50 Data & Analytics Services firms globally,
InfoCepts is focused on automation, acceleration, and scaling our customers' use of
data to drive better decisions. Operating with the scale of a global consulting firm and
the expertise of a niche partner, InfoCepts provides end-to-end data & analytics
support for 250+ MicroStrategy customers worldwide.

For more information

visit www.infocepts.com or write to sales@infocepts.com