Automation is a scary word for workers in many industries. Yet, in business analytics, automation may bring benefits to the workforce rather than displace it altogether.
The nature of business analytics demands human oversight, but this begs the question: can business analytics really be automated? And, if so, what does automation hold for the future of business analytics?
By exploring the capabilities and potential of analytics automation, we can better understand what the future has in store. Here’s what you need to consider.
CAN BUSINESS ANALYTICS BE AUTOMATED?
Before we dive into the potential of business analytics, let’s first explain what business analytics is.
Business analytics is the set of processes and resources that enable the investigation of data for the retrieval of actionable business insights. It is the act of taking raw data, then channeling that data into something that can improve decision-making across a business. Business analytics is essential when it comes to:
- Cutting costs
- Expanding revenue potential
- Improving adaptability
Like other data-driven processes, business analytics is all about formulating compelling insights. However, it is important to also understand the distinction in various analytics terminology. Business intelligence, for instance, is separate from business analytics because it focuses more on descriptive rather than prescriptive analytics. No matter what data you’re analyzing, however, technology can help you streamline your processes.
Automation is one of these powerful technologies that is changing the landscape of business analytics, and it can be applied to valuable insights in several ways across the data pipeline. Here’s how:
- Data collection can be automated and updated across all your data channels.
- Data dashboards with built-in analysis algorithms can automate data visualization and insights.
- Business intelligence can be automated through different breakdowns of metrics and dimensions.
The implications of this automation mean big changes for the data analytics field in the future. As the tools and practices improve, the kinds of competitive strategies businesses can derive will only get better, making for a new world of marketing procedures. Like all change, this comes with pros and cons for businesses and analysts for the industries that apply these tools.
THE PROS AND CONS OF AUTOMATED ANALYTICS
Automating analytics can be an integral part of your overall business process automation strategies, which can lead to benefits like increased productivity, error reduction, and money saved. However, not all the outcomes of automated analytics are positive.
With a poorly optimized strategy, for instance, you’ll have trouble connecting with your target audiences the way you want. That means all the cash you spent on revitalizing your ability to process and use data will go to waste, failing to generate the leads and conversions you’re after.
And business analytics can only go so far. As the future increasingly becomes shaped by the ability of businesses to automatically harness data-driven insights, we’ll see pros and cons like the following define the world of business analytics and business process automation, which can include creating your analytics reports:
The pros
Among the many ways that automation will change the future of business analytics for the better is the greater levels of efficiency businesses can expect. Data means information. Applied accurately, a constant stream of automated insights can lead to outcomes like:
- Enhanced productivity across business practices
- Higher quality analysis through machine precision
- Greater employee satisfaction through a reduction in tedious and repetitive work
These benefits are already powering more efficient analytics. However, artificial intelligence isn’t perfect, either. There are still drawbacks to consider from a future that utilizes automation in analytics more heavily.
The cons
There are a variety of ways automated data analysis fails in comparison to a manual alternative. Data often isn’t as all-encompassing as we might like, and a focus on automation might lead to missed opportunities. These are the cons you should keep in mind as you look to a future of commonplace data automation:
- Risk of job displacement for business analysts
- High overhead investment costs
- Difficult transitory work
With highly automated analytics departments, some analysts could lose their jobs. It all depends on how much oversight these software tools need to give us the insights we want. Then, the overhead costs and transition concerns of implementing new automated procedures might be enough to give companies pause.
As we move into the future, these pros and cons will determine which businesses thrive and which don’t. The results will be a new normal for the field of business analytics, one defined by the successful use of automated algorithms and insightful overseers who can calibrate software to produce accurate information. The future of business analytics hinges upon these automated practices.
THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS
Automating business processes like analytics can be tricky, but there are ways you can mitigate the challenges. By carefully applying relevant data, using comprehensive dashboards, and hiring expert help, you’ll set yourself up for successful analytics automation.
Our ability to make the most out of data we already have available will only grow as time goes on. This means unlimited insights for businesses. But it also means high investment obligations and jobs at risk. Consider the complete picture when it comes to automated business insights before you invest in your own AI analytics software.
