Hottest Trends in Mobile BI

Although most organizations are in the early stages of adopting mobile business intelligence (BI)

Although most organizations are in the early stages of adopting mobile business intelligence (BI), they are focusing on deploying mobile BI to senior executives, according to a 2011 study by Aberdeen Group.

The survey finds that nearly three quarters of the responding organizations are focusing on deploying actionable analytics via handheld devices to senior members, allowing them to make critical business decisions in real-time.

As a result of the success of mobile analytics for executives, the decreasing cost of mobile technology, the knowledge acquired and the experience gained by mobile product developers, business intelligence vendors, and IT departments – organizations of all shapes and sizes are considering leveraging their current business intelligence infrastructures to begin the implementation of mobile BI strategies.

Existing analytics, reports and dashboards will initially be pointed to mobile devices. As time passes, vendors will develop software that will not only assist in pointing to existing objects but will also serve as creative vehicles to present the data.

According to David Roe (@druadh20), four major trends will emerge in 2014. He notes that Gartner Inc. predicts that mobile analytics will be one of the leading trends. This predication suggests that mobile BI is likely to be adopted throughout entire enterprises with multiple business units adopting mobile BI. By 2014, 33% of business intelligence will be garnered through mobile devices. This adoption and utilization will not be limited to C-level executives.

To take this one step further, Aberdeen’s research suggests that the organizations with mobile business intelligence in place or those currently considering it:

• Have high performers deploy and then refine role-specific systems that provide the appropriate analytics to the appropriate employees to help in decision making;
• Track productivity gains and demonstrate return on investment;
• Ensure that the BI infrastructure can support the mobile BI challenge.

Fast forward to 2012. Aberdeen’s new study, “Mobile BI 2012: Accelerating Business on the Move,” echoes the same sentiment.

By far, the number one trend in mobile BI is how rapidly top-level executives make decisions using it. Because information is readily available to organizations utilizing mobile BI, they take, on average, about one-third of the time to make decisions than organizations that have not employed mobile BI strategies.

Additionally, once they experience quick, on-the-go access, users are quite likely to request more. Over half the organizations responding to the Aberdeen study indicate that executives often expect frequent updates, usually within an hour. Aberdeen also notes that mobile BI is quickly becoming the new norm.

Organizations that adopt mobile BI first and promote its availability across their companies will be significantly more competitive. They will be able to quickly respond to critical issues, resolve customer issues in the field, and drive customer satisfaction.

Next steps:

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• To learn more about how analytics can improve your business and increase your bottom line check out these complimentary guides:
• “5-Minute Guide to Business Analytics,” to find out how user-driven “analytic” or “data discovery” technologies help business and technology users more quickly uncover insights and speed action.
• “5-Minute Guide to HR Analytics,” to discover the three critical capabilities a modern analytic environment must provide to the entire spectrum of HR staff so they can adequately support the enterprise.
• “5-Minute Guide to CRM Analytics,” to learn how agile analytics technology can help you deliver critical value to executives and front-line marketers.

Dennis Earl Hardy
Spotfire Blogging Team