But what does this mean in practice, particularly for small and medium size businesses? One could reasonably argue that their bigger siblings have recognised this and to some extent, managed to leverage the benefits of technology to drive better customer experience, improve efficiency and deliver better business outcomes.

This article explores how SMEs can incorporate augmented analytics into their digital transformation strategies and operations to drive better business outcomes.

What is augmented analytics?

Augmented analytics is the use of technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing to assist with data preparation, generating insights and presenting those insights in a way that augments how people explore, analyse and utilise data.

The machine learning component automates the analytics phases of data preparation and the generating of insights. Natural language processing enables business users to get insights from data without a deeper knowledge of the underlying coding languages. As a matter of fact, natural language processing is the technology behind digital assistants such as Siri and Alexa.

Augmented analytics is not intended to substitute humans, but rather to enhance our interpretation capabilities when working with large and complex data sets and facilitates the generation of business insights from cold data.

Augmented analytics in SMEs

A study by Accenture found that 97% of the data that is collected in most companies is never revisited, never used to drive operational efficiencies, and by effect, not being used to improve business outcomes. The same study pointed out that more than 87% of companies have low levels of maturity in terms of their business intelligence and analytics capabilities.

SMEs need to prioritise data and treat it as an asset. They need to leverage both operational (O-data) and customer (experience-, or X-data) to drive better business outcomes and to create sustainable competitive advantages. Through analytics, SMEs can use data, specifically the intelligence and insights it presents as a basis for driving innovation, business agility, reducing operational risks and developing new revenue streams.

In the words of Michael Dell, “digital transformation is not about IT … it is a boardroom conversation, driven by CEOs and line-of-business executives, focused on answering some very big questions: How do you fundamentally reimagine your business? How do you embed sensors, connectivity, and intelligence in products? How do you reshape customer engagement and outcomes?”

The data driven enterprise

Many technology pundits have dubbed data as “the new oil”.

The notion is predicated on the fact that raw oil isn’t as valuable as the final products that are produced after it is processed. In the same way, data isn’t as valuable as the insights that are generated once it is analysed.

Once analysed and refined, data becomes a valuable decision-making tool, enabling companies to quickly adapt to changing market conditions, identify new markets and opportunities and make their businesses more resilient and less susceptible to market disruptions such as Covid-19.

The future of analytics

Whether looking for something to order on Uber Eats or a movie to watch on Netflix, augmented analytics has become well entrenched and pervasive in our everyday lives.

You do not need to think hard about what to eat or what movie to watch, technology does that for you in a split second. Customers have become accustomed to this level of convenience in their personal lives, and it is only a matter of time before they start demanding the same in their professional lives.

SMEs need to see technology as a crucial cog and enabler in the value creation process.

The emphasis should be on integrating technology, such as augmented analytics into all aspects of the business, especially the value chain and value-creating processes of the company.

This is crucial to ensure that technology supports broader and long-term business imperatives such as innovation and improving operational, business and customer outcomes.

The post What Does Augmented Analytics Mean for Small Businesses? appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.

By now, you probably know the elevator pitch: By bringing together experience data (X-data) with operational data (O-data), decision-makers can understand not only what is happening with their business, but also why. It’s all about closing the experience gap for customers.

Ever since 51·çÁ÷acquired Qualtrics in January 2019, it has made experience management (XM) a key growth catalyst for the Intelligent Enterprise strategy and is on a quest to make every company understand and apply the power of X+O. But don’t the same principles apply to SAP?

What few may be aware of is that 51·çÁ÷has launched its own XM journey. The print was still fresh on the acquisition when Christian Klein, then chief operating officer and now also co-chief executive officer, put SAP’s Transformation Office to work on ways Qualtrics software could be used to improve its own processes. The goal: to create a world-class XM practice at SAP.

Turning insight into action through experience management at SAP is a multi-year journey, but much has been accomplished inside the company over the past year, and the team from the Transformation Office has even more ambitious goals for 2020.

To find out more, 51·çÁ÷News talked to Oliver Staudenmayer, program manager for the company’s TopX Experience Management program and head of Employee Experience Management at SAP, and Christian Koenig, operation expert and project lead for TopX XM at SAP.

Q: What is the goal of the Best Run TopX Experience Management Program?

Staudenmayer: Our goal is to actively design and improve experiences that our customers, partners, and employees love and enable them to run at their best. Ultimately it means transforming SAP’s internal processes by using new technologies and trends.

Q: How did you begin?

Staudenmayer: After the closing of the Qualtrics acquisition at the end of January 2019, we wanted to move fast to show benefits of combining O-data and X-data. But before we could forge ahead on the many promising use case ideas, we first had to set up one consolidated platform, establish a process for incoming X+O ideas, and build a governance model for compliance and legal requirements — for example for GDPR and data privacy.

Second, we had to by educating employees about how to “Listen, Understand, and Act.” Qualtrics software is not just a research tool or data collection exercise, it requires us to follow up and act based on the input. After laying the foundation, we now need to put even greater effort into education.

Despite the large number of requests, by July 2019 we were able to select the top 10 use cases. Several are already live and some were moved into 2020 because of the steep learning curve. But this is merely the beginning, and we are already working on additional uses cases.

Q: Where did the top 10 use cases come from and how were they evaluated?

Koenig: Some ideas came from the field while others came from the Transformation Office. We scored each use case by asking: (1) Is it a strategic fit? (2) Is it a true X and O use case, rather than just X data? (3) Can it improve our top or bottom line? (4) How much effort is involved? A matrix depicting impact versus effort helped us identify the quick wins and choose the top 10.

Q: What were the most promising use cases?

Koenig: That’s hard question to answer, because great use cases are still rolling in, but here are a few:

• For customers, Net Promotor Score (NPS), which is conducted quarterly, indicates on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely a customer will recommend 51·çÁ÷to others. Customer NPS is one of SAP’s main KPIs and is reported in our Annual Integrated Report.
• For products, 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud integration means customers can give direct feedback to help product engineers improve the user experience. Experience data helps developers gain insight into what users are thinking as well as whether functions, features, and design choices are actually hitting the mark.
• For employees, MyTeam Dashboard is a tool available to team managers at 51·çÁ÷to support their HR-related management tasks. Based on 51·çÁ÷Analytics Cloud, data is collected from managers to find out how helpful the dashboard is during compensation rounds and to identify training needs for managers to support them in their roles.
• The Feedback Catcher enables any employee to give feedback on whatever they like. It will be installed on the computer and on mobiles, and employees can give feedback on anything they like, whether it’s the purchasing process, online conferencing, cafeteria food, bicycle stands, etc.

Q: Do you think that Experience Management solutions from 51·çÁ÷(Qualtrics) will change the way employees work in the future?

Koenig: The solution alone will not help us to become the experience management company. This is a journey that doesn’t happen overnight. The good news is that there is a great deal of interest in the topic and goodwill among employees. Every transformation requires a cultural change, and to become an experience company, we need to focus on the third imperative of “Listen, Understand, and Act.” Acting on the feedback, showing results and transparency are key to a successful XM program.

Q: What plans do you have for 2020?

Staudenmayer: We have big plans to deliver what we are calling our “flagship” use case that seeks to integrate experience data across all four Qualtrics pillars: Customers, Products, Employees, and Brand. The goal is to achieve a holistic view over how employees are experiencing the processes across a company and then provide management with the data to act on it. The idea is that happy employees leads to happy customers – a goal that applies to every company, not just SAP.

Q: Speaking of experience management, what’s your experience been as project lead?

Staudenmayer: The good news is that there’s a great deal of attention on how XM can be applied in our daily work with customers, employees, and products. People are working together very constructively across SAP, focused on the larger goal of getting the use cases launched, so it’s been very exciting to be a part of this journey.

This article first appeared on the 51·çÁ÷News Center.

The post How 51·çÁ÷Is Using Experience Management to Make Itself Run Better appeared first on 51·çÁ÷Africa News Center.