Understanding Modern BI: How It Differs from Traditional BI

Traditional BI

Despite investing heavily in modernizing business intelligence (BI) technology over the last decade, many data teams still need to work in collaboration and are overwhelmed by fragmented and reactive tasks. Accenture’s research shows that only 20% of organizations can fully tap into the value of their data.

The message is clear: How It Differs from Traditional BI

Traditional BI tools aren’t practical anymore. Businesses need modern BI solutions that facilitate a seamless transition from insight to action—without the cumbersome processes and plumbing required by outdated tools.

So, how do you choose the right BI solution for your business? How can you ensure that even frontline workers can analyze real-time data?

Let’s explore the hidden costs of legacy BI tools and see how modern BI solutions can empower users to drive new business outcomes. Understanding these factors will help you ignite your data renaissance.

The hidden costs of using traditional BI Static dashboards are no longer sufficient. Research indicates that 92% of data teams waste time on operational tasks due to shortcomings in legacy BI tools. This operational work often includes manually processing data, handling ad-hoc requests, and modeling large datasets.

Moreover, business users may wait days or weeks for their IT teams to generate reports. These delays hinder decision-making, causing businesses to miss growth opportunities and negatively impacting customer experiences. Here are some ways traditional BI software can stifle business growth:

  1. Static dashboards and reporting With legacy BI, your data Team spends months collecting data, building models, and creating static dashboards, only to find that their hard work quickly becomes irrelevant. These efforts fail because static dashboards can’t keep pace with the speed of innovation. Decision-makers need real-time insights, not data prepared weeks or months ago. A modern solution should continuously deliver up-to-date insights to support data-driven decisions.

Furthermore, most dashboard development is done in isolation, which prevents analysts from collaborating effectively with business stakeholders. IT teams need more communication to deliver dashboards that provide meaningful business value.

  1. Outdated data management processes Legacy BI solutions often need help with large data volumes. The complexity of managing different data types—structured, unstructured, and semi-structured—can create bottlenecks. Data teams also spend significant time managing metadata and data hierarchies. With so much operational overhead, data teams have little time to focus on initiatives that add real value.
  2. Limited user accessibility Traditional BI often features complicated interfaces. It requires complex SQL or Python queries, restricting its use to IT and data professionals. Consequently, business users may need more access to data, relying on IT for every question and report. Even after receiving answers, if they have follow-up questions or need to adjust their analysis, they must again contact IT and wait days for a response.

Additionally, the lack of interactivity and discoverability hampers users’ understanding of data changes, leading to ambiguity in decision-making.

Modern BI: The AI-powered era Today’s AI-powered analytics represent a new age of decision-making, making it easier than ever to unlock insights hidden in your cloud data warehouse. Here’s how modern BI is helping businesses discover insights faster:

Self-service analytics One of the most significant advancements in modern BI is the democratization of data. Self-service analytics tools like ThoughtSpot offer an easy-to-use experience, making data exploration and analysis accessible to everyone on the Team.

With ThoughtSpot’s GenAI-powered search, users can easily access real-time data and create their dashboards and reports, eliminating dependence on data teams. Your Team can ask questions about business data and receive instant insights without navigating complex interfaces. This positive experience boosts adoption and engagement rates.

Cloud-based ecosystem: Today’s data is increasingly distributed and diverse. Hence, data leaders seek a BI solution that integrates seamlessly with their existing cloud ecosystems, supporting a variety of data use cases. With flexible deployment and robust integrations, data teams can analyze large datasets without sacrificing time or performance. For example, with modern BI solutions like ThoughtSpot, you can analyze billions of data rows and execute various insights-detection algorithms within seconds.

Data Storytelling and Conversational Interfaces The way we consume data is evolving. Instead of one-dimensional charts and graphs, we expect more personalized, conversational data experiences. With conversational BI, you can engage with contextual data and understand why changes occur in your data. With these insights, you can craft compelling data stories that communicate complex concepts to stakeholders.

For instance, with ThoughtSpot’s natural language search, you can create Liveboards that provide real-time data updates and interactive elements like drill-downs and filters, allowing you to explore data dynamically. The visualizations indicate changes, giving the audience enough context to grasp the broader narrative.

Collaboration and sharing Data quality, trust, and transparency are vital to modern BI. However, misunderstandings can arise when collaboration between data and business teams is lacking. Gartner emphasizes improved collaboration and sharing features, enabling users to collaborate on projects and ensure alignment with business goals. This two-way communication promotes a culture of data-driven decision-making across the organization.

For example, ThoughtSpot analysts can utilize features like Notes to share key takeaways with stakeholders.

ThoughtSpot as a leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant While the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Analytics and BI raised caution about AI-powered analytics, the 2024 report recognizes it as a game-changer. However, your AI investments could lead to technical debt without the right analytics partner.

ThoughtSpot is recognized as a leader in the BI space. It empowers every person in your organization to ask and answer data questions, find actionable insights, and use this intelligence for informed decisions. Companies like HP and Chick-fil-A trust ThoughtSpot to turn data into insights.

Here’s how ThoughtSpot empowers users with powerful data experiences:

  • AI-powered natural language search allows users to interact with data and ask questions to uncover insights that drive real business value.
  • Interactive and personalized Liveboards help you stay updated on changes in your business.
  • AI-assisted data modeling simplifies complex processing tasks for the Data Team.
  • AI-augmented analysis of KPIs and charts through SpotIQ, including one-click change analysis and AI highlights.
  • Continuous monitoring of key business metrics, with alerts when data requires attention.
  • Drill-anywhere visualizations let you explore metrics without losing context.
  • Granular user access and controls built into workflows.

Your operational databases hold a wealth of data waiting to be transformed into actionable insights. With modern BI tools like ThoughtSpot, it’s easier than ever to unlock the total value of your data, including robust solutions like Power BI for enhanced business intelligence capabilities.

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