Embeded Analytics Vs Business Intelligence

    In this article, will understand these terms better and illustrate the differences prominently.

    
    Embedded analytics and business intelligence are the two buzzwords in the era of modern business. A few decades ago, business analysis was done on Microsoft Excel, but after big data made an entrance into the market, it has not only changed the shape of technology but also changed a lot in the field of business analysis.

The Concept

   Business Intelligence is a technology-driven process that encompasses technologies, systems, people, tools, methodologies, etc. allowing an organisation to collect data from both internal and external systems for analysing, developing and running queries in the variety of structured and unstructured data that helps in guiding operational decisions in a business.
     For example, Starbucks uses the collected data of individualised purchase by their customers. They then use BI software to predict what purchase and offers an individual customer is likely to be interested in. Another instance is Oracle, where the entire user experience has been streamlined, demonstrating their continued commitment to making analytics as fast, flexible, and friendly as they are powerful and robust.

Some of its advantages are:

• No guesswork as BI provides the accurate data and updates in real-time

• The results are immediate, so decisions can be made in a faster and quicker manner

• The BI software allows you to get business metrics reports anytime and anywhere

• The traditional models can be modified by using the valuable customer data to help in up-selling as well as cross-selling opportunities

• It helps you to make right orders for right amount at the right time that provides a company to avoid stock excess inventory

    Embedded Analytics, on the other hand, is the integration of BI tools, that is, the analytic contents within the business process applications. For a user to work in a smarter manner, it provides relevant information and tools designed for the task. The analytics functionality is embedded in dashboards, data visualisation tools, visual workflows, interactive as well as mobile reports, self-service analytics, etc.

    The user experience can be improved here by increasing end-user adoption and growing revenue. These analytics helps the users by putting valuable data into their hands in order to make quick decisions.

    In a report, it is said that India is currently among the top 10 big data analytics markets in the world and Nasscom, has set a target of making the country one among the top three where embedded analytics is playing a very dominant role. According to this report, deep industry research is done focused on embedded analytics for the year 2018-2025 and listed the top most companies worldwide that are using this method.

    For example, Amazon is using embedded analytics to support e-commerce experience by providing fast shipping of orders, discounted prices, easy purchase, etc. as well as satisfying the customers by reviewing the customer’s view and experience, ratings, etc. Also, the cloud-based software company, Salesforce using embedded analytics in the B2B context. The users here consume information, create customized reports, customized homepage to show performance indications and many more.

Advantages of embedded analytics:

• It provides better analytics which can help in increasing the product quality, satisfaction, retention, etc.

• It serves as a revenue generator that helps to provide potential upgrading in licensing for analytical modules

• The embedded analysis software allows users to spend less time switching back and forth between the other business applications and analytics tools. It, therefore, helps in increasing productivity.

• This is a cost-effective method rather than being in-house solutions

• It helps in making a better decision by providing insights and other analytical objects in a dashboard where users can take actions and report at any time

Basic Differences

• Business Intelligence software is an independent set of systems such as technologies, people, methodologies, processes, etc. that collect data from various sources and prepare it for analysis before reporting.

• Whereas, Embedded Analytics software is a collection of tightly integrated capabilities into systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), marketing automation, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), financial systems to provide awareness, context and analytic capability for decision-making in an organisation.

• Business intelligence sometimes fails to deliver the intended value because it is not integrated with a user’s ideal workflow and does not give the context that is needed to act.

• To overcome this issue, embedded analytics are used by the companies because it provides the insights that are actionable directly in the tools.

• The business intelligence software forces the users to switch between various applications to gain insights and take actions.

• On the other hand, embedded analytics software provides a fusion of intelligence and applications. The intelligence is put inside the applications for improved analytics experience thus making users more productive by combining insights and action.