analytics product decisions

The results are in: analytics lead to better product decisions

You already know how infusing analytics into your daily apps and workflows has boosted performance and opened up insights to making smarter, better decisions. Now, product decision makers say they’ve found that providing data analytics to their customers enhances the value of their products. In a new Harris Poll study commissioned by Sisense, product decision makers overwhelmingly (93%) report that providing customized and personalized analytics to customers, at the point of decision, would give their organization an advantage over others in the industry.

It’s clear to product decision makers that analytics offerings in products drive business value for their customers, as well as for their own businesses. In fact, 100% think that at least a segment of their customers are in need of better data and analytics. 75% say that most or all of their customers have this need. This represents an enormous opportunity for product decision makers to differentiate their products and services from the competition.

Additionally, 80% of respondents even feel such offerings could allow them to charge up to nearly 20% more for their products and services because of the value of the insights that advanced analytics provides to customers and users.

Digging Deeper: Key points About Infusing Analytics

The best (and best-selling) apps and software solutions on the market have analytics and data features in some form. The ability to harness the robust insights provided by your data is what separates industry leaders from the rest of the pack. But far too often, these insights aren’t used in creative, strategic ways to drive growth. In fact, 38% of product decision makers believe their customers look at data and analytics monthly or less often.

Taking a closer look, the analytics that product decision makers believe would be most useful to customers are prescriptive (56%) and predictive (what may happen in the future) (53%). More specifically, 81% of product decision makers feel if they could provide their customers with personalized and customized data and analytics, it should be embedded – including embedding in communication software/platforms (57%), in custom-built apps (55%) and in off-the-shelf business or SaaS apps (52%).

An advanced analytics solution embedded into products and apps doesn’t just crunch complex data into easy-to-understand insights — it presents actionable intelligence to the right users at the right decision-making points in their workflows. This type of in-workflow enhancement opens up critical, actionable intelligence where, when, and how the user needs it. This empowers them to take action at the best time.

Current Barriers to Analytics Success

Lack of skill is not the issue here. Product decision makers are confident in their customers’ ability to use the data and analytics they receive to make decisions. Nearly three quarters (74%) say all/most of their customers are skilled in doing so. As a result, around 1 in 10 (11%) feel their customers simply do not have the data and analytics they need to make decisions to take appropriate actions.

The deeper issue is that nearly all (92%) product decision makers currently deliver data and analytics to their customers via non-embedded methods. Specifically, 57% still deliver it by web portal/dashboards and 60% by email. Looking to the future, 81% of product decision makers say that if they could provide their customers with personalized data and analytics, it should be provided by embedding those into communication software or platforms, custom-built apps or off-the-shelf business or SaaS applications.

In short, product decision makers have found that what drives growth in their companies will also help boost their customers’ operations.

Author: Rachel Burstyn

Source: Sisense