Introduction
Let’s start with a small exercise.
Take out your mobile phone and book an Uber or Lyft or any other ride aggregator platform to go to your office. Booked? Driver assigned? How much time did you wait for the Uber to come?
2 minutes? 3? Okay, worst case scenario, 15 minutes. After that, you will either cancel the ride or look for another one. Onwards to the next one.
Have you ever flown from New York City to Singapore? That’s the world’s longest flight. It will take you 18 hours straight. But, we have to factor in the distance of 9526 miles in this equation. Which means you’re moving at a speed of more than 500 miles per hour. A door-to-door delivery from the UK to the USA across the whole Atlantic will take you less than 48 hours. The conclusion drawn from all these instances is one and the same.
The whole world is moving towards convenience delivered at speed and scale.
But when it comes to data analytics or business intelligence, we are still lagging behind. We don’t mind waiting for 4-5 business days to get that dashboard or report.
The world has not seen a better practice when it comes to data analytics and that’s what we are challenging right now. We’re taking one step further and saying that data analytics need not be stuck in the same loop of cluttered timelines, messy reports, and confusing metrics.
Introducing Conversational Insights
Conversational insights uses natural language processing to interact with your business data and derive momentary actionable insights. Momentary because humans always hunt for momentary data insights.
Conversational insights is more natural and intuitive for users, who can get their data questions answered without being technologically sound in query languages. Its uses are varied across industries (from healthcare to manufacturing) and functions (from finance to project management and even product development) to improve productivity, efficiency, operational gains, and ultimately the bottom line.
At the core of Conversational Insights sits Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP is a field of computer science that deals with applying linguistic and statistical algorithms to text to extract meaning in a way that is very similar to how the human brain understands language. It’s also called computational linguistics and employs machine learning coupled with linguistics to model after the human speech.
Thus Conversational Insights sits right at the crossroads leading to the future of business intelligence.
Why Should you Invest in Conversational Insights?
Is Conversational Insights really worth investing in? Absolutely. There are many reasons to choose a conversational-powered data analytics platform. But we have taken the liberty to cherrypick the top 5 reasons that will make an impact across the length and breadth of your organization’s data practice.
Data Democratization & Ease-of-Use
The biggest and most important impact area of investing in a conversational insights platform is ensuring access to everyone in the organization. Since there is no technological barrier to entry, data-driven decision-making will become the norm for all, including line managers. Of course, one key point to note here is to plan for change management. Until now, there has been a set way of using BI platforms with external dependencies. So tracking usage adoption metrics, regular training sessions, and incentivization for using a conversational insights platform can improve the rate of acceptance.
Personalized & Momentary Insights
Humans are on the lookout for momentary insights into data as opposed to an information overload. They want hyper-personalized answers to momentary data questions. To simply demonstrate, an Accounts Receivable Leader could be looking out for knowing how their collection agents are performing, and what are the inhibitors for them to successfully complete the collection. Is it because of extended credit periods, or whether the sales team is asking for an extension on behalf of the customer, etc. At that moment, he is not looking for the creditworthiness of the new customer being onboarded (not that he is not interested, but he is not currently looking for it). But a weekly report of the A/R team will have the credit period extensions, how many deduction claims were rejected, new customer onboardings, and more. On the other hand, conversational insights ensures that the A/R leader is able to ask “What’s my team’s collection efficiency index?” and get the answer exactly to that question. No more, no less.
Improved Data Findability & Discoverability
There are two key aspects in any data analytics exercise. Data findability and data discoverability. Data findability speaks about finding the required insight in the report, dashboard, or platform, while data discoverability is about chancing upon additional information without the intent of searching for it but still is useful for decision-making. A good data analytics platform must boost data findability as it’s the primary metric the information seeker is searching for. Conversational Insights is just built along the lines to improve data findability along with data discoverability. Two birds, one stone.
Omnichannel Capabilities
Omnichannel data access has become a key factor in selecting the analytics platform for business users. Now it’s not only important that data access happens through multiple devices, but multiple channels also figure into the equation. Especially with the rise in hybrid work environments, it’s imperative to make sure that the workforce has access to insights across social channels both professional and personal based on the sensitivity of information shared. Conversational Insights is built on the premise of making sure that you can Talk to your Data™ across channels like but not limited to WhatsApp, Google Chat, Microsoft Teams, and more.
Anytime Access to Insights
Another subtle yet very powerful feature that is given in any conversational insights tool is 24/7 unfettered access to insights. Every one of us goes through those “I need to know now” moments. It can be in a meeting, at the airport, on the go, or at any moment. But most of the time, we have to wait for a certain amount of time for the data analysts to come back or for the spreadsheet to load and start hunting for information. On the other hand, conversational insights is designed to break that rut. You cannot wait around anymore for data insights. Just take out your phone and start accessing information at Grand Central Park if need be. That will improve deal win rates, productivity, and more in the long run.
In Summary
Conversational insights is the next best thing for the data analytics practice. Investing in a conversational insights platform will ensure that your business enjoys not only maximum productivity, but also optimized cost, improved efficiency, and most importantly, impactful decisions that ensure the unfettered growth of your organization.
To let the world know more about conversational insights, we hosted a webinar where you can get deeper knowledge, get your doubts cleared, and more importantly, see conversational insights in action. Watch the recording of the webinar here.
