Firms Struggle to Deliver Analytics to Customers

In the digital world, all roads ultimately lead to data and analytics, which are fueling innovation and, in many cases, competitive advantage. But analytics can take many forms and encompass many different things. A recent 2016 report from Jinfonet Software—"Commercial Customers Want Analytics Too!"—points out that commercial customers increasingly seek these capabilities. The business intelligence (BI) and analytics vendor surveyed more than 400 senior IT and business professionals on their attitudes and approaches surrounding BI and analytics and found that their efforts to deliver analytics tools and features to external customers largely fall short. What's more, the research found that even when companies have systems in place for customers, they often don't provide the desired information. In many cases, this is the result of the cost to deploy the technology. The survey also offers insights into cloud-based analytics investments, what types of solutions users want and what skill sets are lacking. "Product and service owners are aware of the need to enhance offerings with data analytics and insights, but they are still struggling to deliver them," said Bing Yao, CEO of Jinfonet. Here's a look at some of the highlights.