8 Reasons To Consider Insights-As-A-Service
Organizations are purchasing all kinds of data and analytics solutions, but they still may not be meeting their business goals. If this describes your company, see how insight-driven (vs. data-driven) practices are helping other firms address the problem.
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Vendors and professional services firms are always looking for better and faster ways to help organizations drive more business value from data. Some of them are now offering what they call "Insights-as-a-Service," the definition and implementation of which can vary from company to company.
As a baseline (and not a hard rule), Insights-as-a-Service -- by virtue of its name -- is cloud-based, although in some cases professional services are part of the offering. It may be implemented as a distinct technology layer or not.
In addition, Insights-as-a-Service offerings tend to connect to multiple data sources, including enterprise data. They may also provide users with publicly available data, anonymized data, competitive data, and comparative data that the enterprise lacks. And, because "insights" is part of the name, the insights tend to be directly actionable.
In October 2015, Forrester Research published a brief explaining why organizations should adopt "insight-driven" practices, as opposed to data-driven practices. In the report, Forrester argued that "the data-driven mentality and big data talk focus on closing the gap between more data and business insight. Neither addresses how to test insight for value or make insight-driven action a part of everyday business."
Insights-as-a-Service providers are quick to mention their ability to improve business outcomes because that's the entire point of insights. For example, Capgemini provides Data-as-a-Service, Analytics-as-a-Service, and Insights-as-a-Service options. Data-as-a-Service provides raw data upon which analytical applications are built, Analytics-as-a-Service provides outputs of analyses, and Insights-as-a-Service is linked to tangible outcomes such as revenue increase or cost savings.
"I consider them a progression in terms of sophistication and value, and fundamentally what the '-as-a-Service' unit of measure is," said Goutham Beliappa, a leader in the Business Information Management Data Integration and Reporting Practice for Capgemini North America, in an interview.
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Insights-as-a-Service providers are certainly not uniform, however. Their approaches to Insights-as-a-Service, and the language they use to describe it, vary. Some have been categorizing their solutions as Insights-as-a-Service for months or years, while others aren't using the term at all. There are some common characteristics though: use of the cloud, the ability to provide or link to a variety of different data sources, and a focus on insights and action that lead to business value. At Capgemini, Insights-as-a-Service also includes outcome-based economic models.
"Solicitation of an [Insights-as-a-Service] vendor should be predicated on the need for real decisions with meaningful consequences for business growth. [After all] an insight is only meaningful if it results in action that drives value," said Derik Timmerman, co-founder and CEO of Excel problem-solver Spreadsheet Sherpa, and former member of the McKinsey & Company Data Analytics & Performance Transformation team, in an interview.
Despite the variances in implementation and presentation, expect to hear more about insights in 2016. After all, data has little value without analysis. Analysis has little value if it doesn't provide meaningful insight. Insight has little value if it doesn't trigger action. And, action has little value unless it's tied to desirable business outcomes. Insights-as-a-Service reflects that logic and, as a result, its purpose is to enable and expedite top-line and bottom-line impacts.
After you've reviewed the ways enterprises can drive more value with Insights-as-a-Service, tell us what you think in the comments section below. Is Insights-as-a-Service something you're considering? Has your organization already integrated it into your analytics portfolio?
The US Department of Justice estimates that 17.6 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2014. To manage their risks, banks and credit card companies verify individuals' identity by confirming details such as date of birth, social security number, and address. However, the sophistication of today's identity thieves requires financial services firms to take advantage of additional indicators, including behavioral patterns.
"We have access to three credit bureau credit files, all the utility directories, yellow pages, white pages, mobile directories, postal databases, and our own high-risk fraudster database. There's so much changing with security, regulation, and compliance you need more than a shrink-wrapped data engine," said Adam Elliott, co-founder and president of identity and fraud prevention solution provider ID Insight, in an interview.
The additional context helps banks and retailers identify and prevent fraud faster, so they can efficiently approve, reject, and review credit applications. While ID Insight has many of the hallmarks of an Insights-as-a-Service solution, it prefers to refer to its offering as "Decision-as-a-Service."
Capgemini now offers Insights-as-a-Service as an engagement alternative to its traditional consulting model. The traditional model solves problems with a "these many people at a price point of X" model. Insights-as-a-Service is a cloud-based service that combines the latest technologies and architecture with BI and analytical tools. Capgemini North America's Goutham Beliappa, Business Information Management Data Integration and Reporting Practice leader, said its Insights-as a Service is tailored to the needs of individual customers. Clients get access to publicly available data, as well as the benefits of insights derived for other clients. While each client's data is secure, members of the community can get a view into the art of the possible in their domain so they can improve business outcomes.
"Projects tend to cost us and the clients less because we're doing Insights-as-a-Service. The cost of the outcome is lower and the value of the outcome is higher," said Beliappa. "Our value comes from helping the client move the ball from an outcome perspective. When we help clients measure the outcome, it measures our value as well."
Companies across industries need real-time updates to the status of their supply chain, but since a single supply chain involves multiple players, actionable insights aren't always easy to get. Poor data quality, including missing and stale information, often creates blind spots.
"Logistics, procurement, external manufacturing, and planning departments all have their own data sources. If you pull those together internally you get some benefits," said Rob Cheng, head of growth at supply chain startup Elementum, in an interview. "We allow you to do pattern-matching analysis across thousands of companies, all of whom have supply chains with thousands of different systems. It's like getting access to one large global data warehouse."
Since no company owns its entire supply chain, the aggregate view enabled by a global community provides insights companies would otherwise lack. Elementum connects to enterprise systems as well as social media feeds, public data sources, government sources, weather feeds, carrier data, and more, which helps pinpoint slowdowns and bottlenecks. The company also does impact analyses so a customer can understand, for example, that an adversely affected route will affect 17 specific parts coming from five different suppliers that are required for 12 different products. Further, the delay will affect 2,000 specific customers and have a negative bottom-line impact of $2 million.
Ideally, no company would have excess inventory, but clearance racks at retail stores tell a different story. Retailers and other companies selling products have to constantly balance the available supply with customer demand, which can be especially tricky in a global economy when products are being shipped from one side of the globe to the other. In the interest of cutting costs and increasing cash flow, the trick is to reduce inventory without negatively affecting customers.
"When you're uncertain about the world in supply chain, and you're not sure how much inventory you need, you tend to throw more inventory at the problem," said Rob Cheng, head of growth at supply chain startup Elementum. "If you can reduce the uncertainty about what's needed -- where, when, and what's going to slow things down or disrupt things -- you can safely reduce wasted inventory and invest the capital to make your business stronger."
One company that ships products from southeast Asia and Australia to the US and Western Europe kept 40 days of buffer inventory at each departure and arrival location so it wouldn't run out of product in the event of a weather system or other type of delay. With the added insights it got from the supplementary data sources Elementum provides, the company discovered it could reduce the inventory to a 25- or 26-day supply without affecting customers, which saved the company millions of dollars, Cheng said.
Pharmaceutical companies want to understand how healthcare providers and institutions rank against their peers in areas such as influence, research, and treatment by disease areas. Understanding that helps them more efficiently fuel the adoption of new treatments. One application, Zephyr Illuminate, offers many different insights, including next-best actions for field teams, upcoming providers, and emerging thought leaders in a particular area. Rather than querying the systems, insights are surfaced through the use of filters. Alternatively, insights may be presented as alerts or recommendations.
"What's unique about the insights part is that it's not just a piece of data or a piece of software, it's a decision," said William King, founder and executive chairman of Insights-as-a-Service for life sciences company Zephyr Health, in an interview.
For example, a biopharma company developed an alternative treatment for patients who were unable to undergo surgery. In order to improve patients' health, the company needed to identify the physicians who were determining whether or not patients were surgery candidates, which sounds simple in theory, but is difficult to do in practical application. Using Zephyr Illuminate, the company was able to identify the physicians, and make them aware of the new treatment, so it could be recommended to patients who did not qualify for surgery.
Companies have been using surveys to glean insights for years. While the data can be useful, its scope and effectiveness are limited by the survey audience and the aptitude of the people penning the questions. Civic Science explores millions or billions of potential relationships in surveys to find insights its customers can't get anywhere else.
"Historically, I would invest in a large research project ahead of a major product launch, TV show, or movie I'm producing where I have a runway of weeks or months or quarters to do the research necessary," said John Dick, founder and CEO of CivicScience, in an interview. "Few businesses are operating that way anymore because products and media are adapting on the fly. The runway has been truncated dramatically, but it has not reduced the need for decision makers to have valuable information to support their decisions."
Companies are using CivicScience to get the insights they need to make decisions for the next day's board call, earnings call, or press release. A marketer who might want to buy a Super Bowl ad based on its reach could discover a lower-cost opportunity targeted at a narrower and more relevant audience that yields a higher rate of success. Similarly, a quick-service restaurant can narrow the possibility of new menu items using insights as a supplement to traditional practices such as taste tests.
Sometimes, gaining insights in one area of the business opens up entirely new possibilities in other areas. Companies often discover this once they start enabling insights between or among internal systems. When external data is added to the mix, the possibilities can become even more intriguing.
For example, something that improves CRM may also benefit sales, or something that builds deeper relationships with loyal customers may also indicate opportunities for improving data operations.
"We're not just saying, 'here's something interesting,' we're recommending action. It's not enough to discover an anomaly, you have to know what to do about it," said Jana Eggers, CEO of artificial intelligence platform provider Nara Logics, in an interview.
Nara Logics is a cloud-based solution that's containerized with Docker. Its Insights as a Service capabilities are implemented as an intelligence layer over the data layer to serve a lot of applications, so customers can solve multiple types of business problems. The platform connects to third-party data sources to enable deeper insights. A credit card company, for example, is using Nara Logics to understand merchants in greater detail.
Marketers and business leaders who want to improve the success of their products and campaigns often study a subset of the population and then apply that knowledge to a broad audience. By getting access to consumer data in near real time and at scale, they are able to better understand consumer behavior and discover new insights.
"For us, it's about insights to action to measurement. Up until now, it was 'here's what 10,000 people said about my product, so I need to build a product to cater to that need.' When you're dealing with 24 million, the world changes significantly," said Rohit Tripathi, global VP and general manager of SAP Mobile Services, in an interview.
SAP Consumer Insight 365 is a cloud-based subscription service that's based on aggregated, anonymized, and enhanced mobile ambient data. The consumption of the insights is actually done through APIs. Marketers use the service to improve the ROI and effectiveness of their campaigns.
Marketers and business leaders who want to improve the success of their products and campaigns often study a subset of the population and then apply that knowledge to a broad audience. By getting access to consumer data in near real time and at scale, they are able to better understand consumer behavior and discover new insights.
"For us, it's about insights to action to measurement. Up until now, it was 'here's what 10,000 people said about my product, so I need to build a product to cater to that need.' When you're dealing with 24 million, the world changes significantly," said Rohit Tripathi, global VP and general manager of SAP Mobile Services, in an interview.
SAP Consumer Insight 365 is a cloud-based subscription service that's based on aggregated, anonymized, and enhanced mobile ambient data. The consumption of the insights is actually done through APIs. Marketers use the service to improve the ROI and effectiveness of their campaigns.
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