Big data and knowledge management – analytics hubs

2-minute read

When it comes to analytics and business intelligence, a critical challenge companies face is making the insight and assets available for those who need it. Creating a way to manage your analytics assets is an important part of every organization and should be prioritized. Knowledge management (KM) platforms, also known as analytics or Analytics Hubs, are a great tool to ensure your assets are visible and your initiatives deliver business value.

As an organization’s data evolves and progresses, insight needs to be shared between different departments, teams, and individuals. An effective BI/Analytics portal can take on a different form for different companies but should always be focused on user experience. A smaller company might focus on making dashboards, reports and training available in a single location. Larger companies should take into consideration broader technology and social elements to ensure that they are not isolating data or dashboards in one place. Finding the best way for your company to share and distribute assets will allow the right data to get to the right people at the right time, with a minimum amount of resistance (and the right amount of security). 

Increase adoption with a good analytics hub 

One of the biggest issues companies run into is the sharing of information. Knowledge management can often be overlooked and not having a system in place can be a serious problem. This is especially imperative for data assets like analytics dashboards, which often have large investments behind them. 

To increase user adoption and return on investment, there are several things to keep in mind when designing an Analytics Hub:

1. Maximize investments in analytics with discoverable assets

Your files, reports, documents, videos and dashboards should be easy to locate. Support your users by tagging assets, highlighting what’s new and popular, creating a portal that supports instant search, and making recommendations using machine learning algorithms.

2. Supported enablement and adoption with social channels 

Encourage open discussion, rating, and allow “favorites”. Social engagement and discussion about current assets improves the future iterations of the dashboard and is an integral part of the Enterprise Dashboard Process. Creating an easy to use feedback mechanism helps users to get input to the right people.

3. Create and operationalize an insights culture through gamification 

Incentivize the sharing of reports and dashboards to accelerate user adoption of current assets and new contributions by content curators. Solid UX supports low friction sharing.

Challenges and outcomes of analytics KM

Having multiple unconnected BI and reporting technologies can negatively affect your knowledge management. It can be an unavoidable consequence of a growing business but should be monitored. As departments grow and additional ones are created, knowledge gets stored differently and in different places, layering new systems on top of existing infrastructure. 

Since knowledge can be dispersed across the company, a single location for all reports and dashboards is essential for basic company information sharing. an Analytics Hub is key to getting the necessary information accessible from a single location. 

Using dashboards for analytics KM 

Effective dashboards take complex data and simplify it for understanding at a quick glance. They serve to quickly share essential information and get everyone working in sync. Discoverable dashboards are an excellent tool for analytics knowledge management because of the visual overview of dynamic information. They can integrate static data from spreadsheets and present information in real time.  

A simplistic dashboard design can be difficult to achieve. Leverage best practice when designing the layout by returning to the central questions: What problem do we need to solve and what specific data do we need to make a knowledgeable decision? If you stay focused on those questions, over-designing your dashboard can be avoided. 

Getting the most out of your analytics

No two companies will have the exact same needs when it comes to analytics. Additionally, as companies grow and change they should continue to adjust the way they handle knowledge management. It is essential to focus on user adoption and effective change management as you address your knowledge management needs. 

Concentrating on organizational objectives and sharing analytical knowledge is key. Company performance ultimately depends on the performance of its components and how they work together. Sharing internal knowledge will create cooperation within an organization. With a good system in place, employees can spend less time searching for information and more time using that knowledge efficiently.