trends that are reshapingInformation Technology (IT)

It’s a well-known fact that information technology is changing.

People are using technology more than ever before. And as our users become more comfortable with technology at home, expectations about technology in the workplace are changing too.

Users have higher expectations about both the availability of new technology as well as their ability to customize it and make it their own. Technology is no longer just a tool. It is an extension of the individual.

To keep up with these demands, IT organizations need to innovate.

The role of IT needs to shift:

From Enforcement to Empowerment: The focus can no longer be on locking everything down. Instead, IT organizations must focus on the enablement and empowerment of users.

From Efficiency to Efficacy: In recent years, IT focused a lot on costs. But focusing too much on efficiency can lead to decreased IT service offerings and result in business frustration. Instead, IT organizations need to focus on efficacy – how IT can help the business meet their needs.

And to make a difficult situation even worse, IT needs to respond to these changes

at the very same time that IT budgets are declining and there are significant

fundamental technological changes underway.

But amidst all this change, one thing remains the same:

BI and analytics continue to be a priority for the business. In fact, the desire to use data

in every day decision making is extending beyond traditional data driven roles such as

finance and marketing. More and more users are recognizing that they, too, can benefit

from data driven decision making.

So how does IT ensure that they are empowering their users with the tools

they need to naturally explore data, ask the next question, and uncover the insight they

need to make informed decisions?

1 Visualization

2 Big Data

3 Cloud

4 Social

5 Mobile

To start, IT must understand five key trends affecting business intelligence today:

Visualization1

Data visualizations are a powerful tool because they take advantage of innate human

capabilities to explore and process complex information. Used the right way, data visualizations

offer the ability to intelligently summarize information and convey new meaning in data.

But adding visualizations to existing BI isn’t enough. How the business uses visualizations is just as

important. Many visualizations look good, but lack meaning. Or worse,

they mislead the user to an incorrect conclusion. To derive deep insights,

users need to be able to interact and explore their visualizations to better

understand their data.

Big Data2

Big data is not interesting because it is BIG. The toolsets to manage and process large

amounts of data are maturing rapidly.

What is interesting is that we are at a time in history when we can know almost anything

on any topic. So, the question about big data becomes one of innovation. What are we going to do with this wealth of information?

In today’s digital world, understanding the data means understanding the business.

So, in order to answer that question of what to do, organizations need more users looking at their business data, both big and small; asking more questions; and deriving more insight.

This is critical because the real power of data doesn’t come from the data alone. It comes from the combination of data with human expertise and intuition. It is the power of informed intuition that drives real innovation.

Cloud3

Cloud can refer to a lot different things: PaaS, IaaS, SaaS, etc. But at the core, what cloud really means is that components of the

IT infrastructure – from the data center to the software itself – can be managed and

supported by someone else.

There are a number of reasons why companies choose to pursue cloud offerings:

Low cost of entry: You can get started with a project with minimal up-front investment.

Flexibility and agility: You can contract and expand your service as you need it.

Value differentiation: You can focus your energy on the services that are true differentiators rather than keep-the-lights-on activities.

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When it comes to business intelligence, cloud requires some special considerations:

Security & Compliance: It is critical to ensure that any cloud implementation protects your organization’s most valuable technology asset – your data.

Cost: The cost of storing and processing data is only a part of the story. You need to keep in mind the cost in terms of time, money, and performance for moving data between data center locations.

1

2

Social4

Social doesn’t mean chatting. And it is much more than just sharing the latest news on Facebook and Twitter. Social is about how technology can support collaboration

even as work groups become more geographically dispersed.

When it comes to analytics, it is not just about online – it’s about inline.

It is critical that you integrate the analytic conversation closely with the

BI tools so that collaboration happens as close to the analysis as possible.

By ensuring that this happens, you are able to drive common understanding

and provide the added benefit of capturing the conversation

around data-driven decisions. And that’s powerful.

Mobile5

Mobile isn’t really about mobility. It’s about access and touch.

These days, many people carry some kind of connected device on them at all times, and given mobile usage growth trends, that is unlikely to change. This means that you can answer any question, anytime, anywhere. And the touch experience encourages immersion and exploration.

When we use touch, we explore and learn. When we use a keyboard, we create and input.

With mobile, we provide a new, immersive way to explore data anytime, anywhere. And that engages users and promotes

stronger BI adoption.

So how do you balance trends in the BI industry with increasing pressure to give every user access to the data they need,

when they need it?

The answer is self-service visual data discovery.

Self-service visual data discovery is nimble, straightforward, mobile, and for everyone.

• It provides less of a burden on short-staffed IT departments by delivering an ecosystem for data discovery rather than specific, overly-defined business reports.

• It gives business users an easy-to-use tool that helps them explore their data in a natural way.

• And it creates a stronger partnership between the business and IT.

To learn more, visit qlik.com or download our guide for evaluating governed self-service data visualization vendors.

Download Qlik® Sense Desktop – a free self-service visualization and discovery application that lets

your instincts lead the way.

qlik.com

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