M+E Daily

A growing number of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and software organizations are using next-generation embedded analytics and, if a company hasn’t already embraced any of these modern embedding platforms, its leaders may want to consider doing so to keep up with rivals and stay ahead of the trend, according to MicroStrategy.

There are several advantages to selecting MicroStrategy to provide those next-gen embedded analytics, Mo Abouelseoud, SVP of OEM at MicroStrategy, said April 20 during the MicroStrategy webinar “Why SaaS and Software Innovators are Embracing Next-Generation Embedded Analytics.”

During the webinar, he and Doug Henschen, VP and principal analyst at Constellation Research, explored embedded analytics trends and what they offer organizations, including microservices, rich application programming interfaces (APIs) and data-driven applications.

Noting that MicroStrategy specializes in making developers and product leaders successful, Abouelseoud said his company makes it “very easy to deploy” embedded analytics and to get started, offering powerful no-code/low-code options enabling customers to deliver custom experiences and complete automation.

MicroStrategy also offers easy white-labeling, designed from the ground-up that allows for multi-tenancy with zero coding.

After polling viewers of the webinar, he said their responses showed that business intelligence (BI) and “analytics trends are very important to a lot of people,” along with “making it very easy to deploy with granular APIs and leveraging cloud native technologies.”

Henschen pointed to the “application imperatives” that are expected from software and services in today’s digital era.

“The first one is agility,” he said, noting the “huge demand” there is for that from organizations. He explained: “You can talk about limitless scale. You can talk about elasticity [and] paying only for what you use. Yes, those are benefits of going [to] the cloud. But it’s really agility [that] is the reason that so many companies are going [to the] cloud. They’re not stuck in cement anymore. They can move [and] be agile with their software and services.”

Henschen added: “You, as a software and SaaS vendor, have to be agile as well. And the embedded analytics and BI offerings help you do that by delivering the analytical capability you need more quickly. So it’s faster time to value for your customers….. Architecturally, it gives you more agility to change and adapt and prove your software down the road when you need to improve on those analytical capabilities.”

The second application imperative is ease of use, he said, noting: “We all have apps and great websites now for everything from our banks and gas stations and financial services. Almost every interaction we have today is mobile and digital and all of that.”

Embedded platforms, however, have “already proven their analytical capabilities,” with their user interfaces and from being in competitive markets, he said.

Another application imperative is that a solution must be “trusted and secure,” he said, adding: Data security trust [is] always crucial…. These days, we’re seeing many more privacy requirements that you have to keep up with, and certainly the embedded BI and analytics offerings help you do that because they’re dealing with this as well.”

Two of the other application imperatives he pointed to were that a solution must be business and industry relevant, and must also offer flexible architecture.

The last imperative that he pointed to for SaaS and software offerings was that they “should be able to deliver a customized experience,” he said. “Nine times out of 10, when I encounter companies that are innovating, they’re innovating with data-driven experiences. And this includes personalization.”

He added: “Next-gen embedding has this two way interactivity so that when users are interacting with your software and making specific selections, they’re logging in … as a specific role or user[and] they get a customized experience.”

Today, “more actionable information” is a must, he went on to say. Ten to 15 years ago, “companies started embracing the self-service BI and analytics,” he noted. They were “overwhelmed with data [and] too few people had the ability to create new reports and dashboards,” he said, adding: “Self-service helps solve that problem. But we have a new problem today caused in large part by that self-service.” There are just “too many insights” now, he said.

He went on to provide several recommendations for organizations in addition to embracing next-gen embedded analytics, including making sure to have a “cross-functional team” in place. Also, “any good software or [SaaS] vendor is listening closely to their customers,” he said.

Organizations must also be sure to provide the same functionality that companies have come to expect, including access controls, support for industry standards,  support for a diverse set of pre-built data connectors, customization and styling capabilities, he said.

“All those things have been given for a long time as something you should expect from an embedded BI and analytics vendor,” he added.

To view the full webinar, click here.