Blog

09/08/2019

Bringing your data to life with Einstein Analytics

5 minute read

You’ve probably heard it all before. You know, the notion where data is the new oil. Well, it’s only partially true as value comes from understanding data, not from collecting it. See, collecting the data comes relatively easy as many of the modern software do it, whether we want them to or not.

Now that we’ve clarified this, we can move to how Einstein Analytics fits in the picture. Einstein Analytics helps businesses to understand the vast amount of data that is being collected from various sources. It helps business leaders to understand and use advanced analytics to identify, for example, new markets, business sectors, or even whitespace where competition is still scarce. The latest machine learning, as well as predictive analytics capabilities, allow businesses to prepare their production, products, or services for the ever-fluctuating customer demands.

Einstein Analytics Dashboard

With the support of Einstein Analytics, business leaders can make decisions based on hard facts and tight predictions but also factor in underlying market trends to drive their companies to ever-higher profits.

Data — The Beast That Is Misunderstood and Underutilized

Let’s play a game of “How well do you know your business”, shall we? It’s simple and soul-crushing. It works so that I will ask you a few questions, and you’ll jot down the answers… If you happen to know the answer. Ready, let’s go:

  • Which product categories have the highest or lowest margins?
  • What are your key sales advantages that are most likely to get you new accounts?
  • What suppliers might impact your production or margins?
  • What is demand look like for your key retailers and distributors?
  • Which accounts or regions have the most attractive emerging markets for your business?

Seemingly simple questions can be hard to answer when the required data is buried in different legacy systems, like ERP, CRM, PLM, etc. What we’re trying to say here is that data surely is the new strategic asset for any company like yourself. However, your business needs excellent analytics tools and artificial intelligence to unlock it.

Investing in data and analytics is, first and foremost, a business decision. See, in many of our meetings, our clients prioritise one thing over everything: forecasting. It’s most definitely a worthy goal, but doing forecasting successfully means utilising data from multiple sources and then compiling it into a sensible dashboard for decision making. This is something that not many companies can do quite yet.

It’s not all bad news, though. With a few simple additions, you can have your Salesforce doing all the hard work for you — increasing data accuracy to ensure revenue predictability while conducting the daily operations as cost-effectively as possible. With the help of Einstein Analytics, you could be analysing and optimising plant-, business-, and decision-making performance, cutting down the manufacturing cycle times and production delays while ensuring effective utilisation of capacity, and so forth, in no time at all.

Read more – Digital Transformation: the journey begins->

Before deciding to use it

We’re not saying you should jump in the cold, but we are telling you to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

  • Do you have data that can be analysed, and what is its quality? No matter how well your analytics is working, it won’t be useful if the data is of poor quality.
  • Sales data often exists — but is it connected to sales reps, quotas, specific accounts, or targets? Business leaders may need to think about how best to connect sales data to deals or quotas.
  • Who is the data for — the sales department, business development, top management or some combination of groups within the business? The data presented should be targeted to a specific group. Analytics can be used to show distinct results and reports. For example, top management may need a report that presents simple statistics in a streamlined format, while departmental or team leaders may need more detailed department-specific reports or rankings of their team members.
  • Do you know what you are trying to optimise? Many companies want fancy dashboards without being clear on why they want them and what they want from them. Before committing to an advanced analytics solution, be absolutely clear on what problem you’re trying to solve.

Read more — Here is the problem: Silos prevent excellent customer experiences->

Who is this for?

We can’t say that any industry benefits from Einstein Analytics more than another. What we’re one hundred percent sure of, though, is that many companies have the ability and readiness to implement Einstein Analytics today! Especially if you’re already using other Salesforce solutions, given the seamless connection to the platform. Well, even if you’re not currently a customer, we’ve seen huge leaps made within weeks of implementing Salesforce together with Einstein Analytics.

If you take anything away from this blog, then let it be this: Einstein Analytics is an excellent tool for any company that wants to get more insight from its data. In order to understand how to quickly gain value from your Einstein Analytics investment — I recommend the webinar recording below.

 

View Fluido Einstein Analytics webinar recording

Janne Warpenius

Analytics Practice Lead

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