Building a data-driven culture: The benefits of self-service BI

A data-driven culture is one that empowers users to not only rapidly access data, but also “play” with it to gain new insights.

Most IT leaders (97%) agree, designating self-service business intelligence (BI) tools as a top priority, according to a recent IDG survey. They recognize that by giving users data-exploration capabilities, companies can achieve:

• Improved data quality/accuracy for decision-making
• Increased confidence in data security and compliance
• Greater efficiency
• Broader data access
• Improved ability to collaborate

However, they’ve got a ways to go, as access to this functionality is currently limited.

Only 30% of IT leaders report that all departments have access to company data to leverage for BI/analytics projects. Another 13% say that access very limited, primarily to just IT and the analytics team.

Empowering insights with data access

When data exploration is limited, there’s a good chance valuable insights will remain hidden, or “dark.”

Consider DHL Temperature Management Solutions, a division of the global logistics carrier. The group collects and tracks temperature data throughout its freight fleet to ensure, for example, that pharmaceutical and biological goods stay within a safe temperature range.

“We collect ambient temperature data throughout the package logistics process,” says Carlos Palacios, Pricing and Analytics Manager, “and we store that data in a database.”

The organization had to collate all the sources of that data, clean it, put it into an Excel file, and create a Pivot table to share with its executive team—a process that took at least a week. And they still weren’t able to analyze that data for actionable insights.

So DHL deployed Domo, a modern BI tool with self-service functionality that not only pulls together all temperature-related data, it allows users to play with it.

“It’s almost inconceivable how much more we’re able to do with Domo than what we could do before,” says Dina Bunn, Global Head of Central Operations and IT at DHL Temperature Management Solutions.

“We are able to combine data however we want to,” she adds. “We’re able to visualize and derive actions on data that we didn’t have a grasp on before.

“For example, a certain product, on a certain lane, at a certain station is experiencing an issue repeatedly. In Domo, we can create a heat map and identify the specific issue. That kind of info wasn’t really clear to us before.”

These capabilities not only help DHL improve its customer experience, they also empower employees to visualize data and see the story behind it—without data-access limits or lengthy delays.

Getting started with self-service

Robust self-service tools, balanced with the right level of data governance and security capabilities, are the cornerstone of modern BI.

For example, Domo helps companies quickly establish user roles, controls, and access. The self-service platform automates the integration of data pipelines to bring together all sources of data, putting it into the right hands with just a few clicks. And, it delivers enterprise-grade security to ensure data is secure and properly governed.

Ultimately, self-service BI democratizes data insights, giving users the ability to explore on demand. It speeds up decision-making and provides greater efficiency while instilling IT’s confidence in data security and compliance.

To learn more about self-service BI, download this e-book. To see why Domo tops Dresner’s list of self-service BI vendors, click here.

NOTE: This post was written by a representative of International Data Group, Inc. (IDG) and originally appeared on CIO.com as part of a Domo-sponsored marketing campaign.