Over the last year, I’ve had conversations with many business leaders, and I can sum up one of their major frustrations in a single sentence:
Why is it so hard to understand the data coming from my own company?
We can talk all day about how people are drowning in data. But the sheer amount isn’t the problem. The problem is a lack of platforms that intuitively display data in a common-sense fashion that just works. We don’t mind if it’s a single spreadsheet or a vast sales database: Just show it to me in a way that helps me make fast, actionable, and accurate decisions.
Am I crazy for wanting a data solution that’s as easy to fire up and use as Candy Crush? I don’t think so. After all, consumers demand time and time again fast, easy, and intuitive app experiences – even from enterprise or business-to-business (B2B) industries.
The three top features
The recipe for successful mobile analytics is always evolving, but there are three top things that the market will always want:
1. Mobile-first
The first dot-com bubble called, and it wants its interface back. At best, today’s BI solutions port over their desktop version to mobile devices, slap the word “app” on it, and ship it out. Some don’t even work on mobile devices.
Why aren’t BI solutions built specifically with mobile-first design, user interface (UI), and functionality, given than most people on the planet are glued to their smartphones 24/7? Workforces require a solution that works first on their mobile devices, with desktop functionality if they need it.
2. Visually simple and sensible
Just because an app or solution creates a pie chart doesn’t mean I actually understand my data better. Yet way too many solutions deliver you a lot of graphs, charts, and views that just don’t matter.
As a decision-maker, only one thing matters to me: Give me simple, attractive, sensible visual formats and options to display my data in a way that helps me make better decisions. Anything else gets in the way.
3. Fast, easy, and interactive
I have only minutes between meetings to check key metrics and data. I don’t have hours to wrangle with complicated systems. Reports shared with me should open immediately, with as little friction as possible. I should be able to run my own reports right on my phone with no hassle. And I want to be able to intuitively swipe and tap the screen to interact with these reports and dive deeper into them in the little time I have.
Bottom line
None of the above matters if your app or solution crashes randomly, hiccups when the WiFi drops, or takes an entire afternoon to set up and understand. Data needs to simply appear, ready for analysis – and be presented on an easy-to-use application.
With SAP Roambi, you will get a mobile-first, intuitive design that just works and helps you make important decisions with minimal hassle. It takes the guesswork out of analyzing your business data. Download a free trial of SAP Roambi, and see what a mobile reporting tool can do for you.
