In the world of business applications, when users are forced to switch from app to app to analyse their data they immediately lose any efficiencies they gained.

Self-service is an IT departments’ favourite phrase, or so it seems at the moment, as the availability rates continue to gain momentum.

However, research shows that there has been a drop in end-user adoption over recent years.

As IT teams continue to force self-service solutions onto their users, the backlash and rejection of these tools has grown.

End users don’t want to adopt these tools because they find them difficult to use, don’t like switching over from their usual applications to separate analytics tools, and don’t have easy access to analytics tools in their daily workflows.

In fact, recent research Logi Analytics conducted on the state of analytics adoption found that 83% of business users expressed a strong desire to stay in one application instead of switching to standalone analytics applications.

>See also: How to transform a business with embedded analytics

Despite this, the report also shows that nearly 67% of business users find themselves having to switch to separate analytics tools to get the data or analytics they need, something that industry analysts have said can waste users one to two hours a week.

Today’s users are desperate for something that is better, easier, and more efficient for them to work into their own daily workflows and app usage patterns.

Companies need to start embracing the value of delivering sophisticated analytics when and where people most need them most.

Embedded analytics puts intelligence inside the applications people use every day to improve the analytics experience and make users more productive by combining insight and action in the same application.

A second survey conducted into State of Embedded Analytics report uncovered that 94% of independent software vendors (ISVs) and 80% of non-commercial application providers said embedded analytics is important to their users.

Application providers stated that 43% of their users use embedded analytics on a regular basis. That’s double the adoption rate of traditional analytics tools, which typically peaks at 20-30%.

For organisations, this means moving away from traditional analytics and business intelligence (BI) (which mainly consists of legacy standalone analytics tools that perform static and repetitive tasks), and towards embedding analytics into the applications which users work within on a daily basis.

Embedded analytics solves these and other user experience gripes by putting analytics right into the apps which users are already working within.

Having the most timely and contextual intelligence built into business applications and portals is the reason why embedding analytics is currently the fastest growing area in business intelligence.

>See also: 5 steps to creating an embedded analytics application

Whether you are working on a smartphone or a PC, switching between apps or windows to get the information you need is a thought-breaking distraction.

Getting that same information or data from within the app that you are already focused on proves to be far more productive, efficient and preferable for most users.

Take for example H&J Martin, a construction company headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland. One of the biggest challenges for almost every organisation, is finding that single version of the truth.

With separate applications for all its core functions, from computer facilities management to document management and billing, the H&J Martin Asset Management Services division was struggling to combine all its data for analysis.

By embedding analytics, it was possible for H&J Martin to see all their data at the push of a button.

H&J Martin is now able to identify inefficiencies and take corrective action quickly. This both increases their productivity and avoids the costly financial penalties of missing SLAs.

Through standardised dashboards, H&J Martin can also measure its performance for contract KPIs, reactive response, planned/ preventative maintenance, and more.

>See also: Bridging the business intelligence and analytics gaps

Embedding analytic capabilities into the applications that business users spend most of their time in, provides far more chance for organisations to introduce data analysis into their workflows and successfully start to benefit from analytics-based decision making.

Embedding the analytics is perceived by people as something that is far less demanding of attention and requires far less in the way of effort, training and understanding – which drives adoption up.

After all, if you’re jumping from app to app in order to check business data numerous times every day, you’re losing focus and precious time. That’s the bottom line.

Sourced by Tom Cahill, vice president EMEA at Logi Analytics