The New Killer App? Embedded Analytics.

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A killer app refers to an application that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology. Killers apps can substantially increase sales of the platform on which it runs.

We’ve reached the middle of Q3. And, in an already tumultuous year, it’s understandable that a spike in anxiety is coming over executives. For a VP of Sales within a software company, finding a way to close the deals necessary to hit a sales number intensifies. For a customer success leader, reviewing the improvements to customer retention and satisfaction becomes more intense. And for every person who works for an executive, that pressure rolls downhill, leaving everyone scrambling to make faster, better decisions.

Every day, but especially during those intense quarter-end sprints when everyone needs to get their hands on data for reporting, the value of embedded analytics is inescapable. Regardless of what your role is, think about how many times during a quarter you have to go somewhere else, or wait on someone else, to get all the data you need to get something done.

Imagine that could all go away and the reporting and analytics you need is available where you need it, when you need it, and in the format you need it, and you’ll understand why embedded BI is the next killer app.

How Embedded Analytics Creates Efficiency and Value

Without embedded analytics, most business users have to leave the application they work in and open up a dedicated analytics application to create or request the reports they need. The effort it takes to get that data creates significant inefficiencies. In a study, Hubspot found that:

  • 82% of sales and marketing personnel waste up to an hour a day managing tools.
  • 75% of marketers spend an hour a day looking at data in different tools.

In other words, in order to perform data analysis, business users often have to first identify and connect to data sources, aggregate data across multiple sources, and then produce reports from the data, often in a manual process. In addition to the time spent gathering and consolidating the information, studies have shown that one to two hours a week per employee is wasted trying to apply what is learned from reporting and analytics to the system where action can be taken. In contrast, embedded BI creates value and efficiency by putting insight at the point of action.

How Embedded Analytics Drives Revenue for Software Companies

Embedding reporting and analytics into the workflow of an application clearly makes workers’ lives easier, but how does it help the stressed-out software sales exec who is trying to hit that quarterly quota?

Software that has embedded analytics at the point of decision creates a competitive differentiation over solutions that lack analytics. Embedded analytics inside business applications helps software executives achieve their goals by allowing them to:

  • Upsell self-service analytics as an additional module that is part of their application
  • Create a competitive differentiator that enables them to close more deals at a higher value
  • Integrate enhanced analytics into a new release of an application to encourage customers to convert from perpetual to subscription

During the height of the dot-com craze, everyone was looking for the next killer app. What was left after the dust settled in 2002 was not an empty software landscape, but a set of products that had continued to demonstrate value to users.

Right now, with the rise of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, we are seeing a similar tech bubble. Some solutions will succeed; many will not. But data is not going away. In a world awash in it, functionality to harness and apply data to make better decisions will continue to provide value to applications.

Izenda: Bringing Value to Your Application

Unlike other BI solutions, Izenda embeds reporting and analytics natively into the host application resulting in a seamless analytics experience for end-users. Our self-service reporting platform empowers your users to make smarter, data-driven decisions by placing analytics right into their existing workflows.

If you want to increase the value of your application and save countless hours (and money) on developing a solution in-house, schedule your personalized demo by clicking the link below.

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