Data democracy – How accessible is your data?

We all understand the importance of clean data, but are you making the right data available to the right people? Is it presented it in an easily accessible, digestible format? 

Some organisations struggle with data they can’t access, because it either doesn’t exist or it’s locked away in difficult-to-access systems. Other organisations are completely overwhelmed with data, with information coming out of their ears and no way to cut through all the noise.  

Either way, the end result is the same. Teams can’t easily access the data they need to better and more efficiently do their job.  

“All of your data is interesting to someone. But no-one is interested in all of your data.” 

Ian Niblock, Senior Director Product Development, MRI Software 

If all of your data is interesting to someone, but no-one is interested in all of your data – what is the best way to present it? How do we ensure our colleagues can easily access what they need, without being overwhelmed?  

Make it easier to see your data

First of all, investing in a BI tool makes your data easier to see. It presents data in user-friendly dashboards that your colleagues can manipulate to their needs.  

But beyond the standard BI dashboards, there are several things to consider that will enable you to get even more from your data.  

Customise your dashboard views

Allowing your team members to customise and personalise their dashboard views ensures they have all the information that’s most important to them at their fingertips – and removes any surplus information that’s slowing them down.  

Multi-application reporting

If your BI dashboards can present data from multiple sources, you’ll make accessing data even easier for your teams. MRI Agora Insights is a prime example, with a number of out-of-the-box dashboards available to support data from multiple systems for immediate value.  

What’s so great about multi-application dashboards? They mean you won’t have to log in to multiple systems, or even view multiple dashboards to access your most crucial property data. With a dashboard presenting multiple data sets in a single view, everything you need to know is ready and waiting for you – there’s no need to download numerous reports and manually combine your data.  

Tip: Reduce the time spent combining your data by up to 80% using a multi-application dashboard like MRI Agora Insights.  

Filtering and discovering data

When investing in a BI tool, one of the most powerful features you can look for is AI powered capability to help you interpret and understand your data.  

For example, MRI Agora Insights comes with Ask Agora. A natural language processing tool to interrogate your data. Ask questions using everyday language – there’s no need to know field names or technical information.  

Think about your refresh times

Historically, powerful property management systems with great reporting capabilities have still had one flaw – the need to manually pull reports and wait for the data to download. The bigger your portfolio and the more data at your disposal – the longer this could take, with some reports taking hours to run.  

When looking for a BI tool and dashboard solution, consider how frequently you’ll need the data to refresh. For most dashboards, they’ll be refreshed overnight – so your team can fire up their laptops first thing and have instant access to the most recent data in a dashboard view.  

Many companies will allow you to increase the frequency with which your data is refreshed. It’s worth noting this can come at an extra cost, but it’s potentially worth it if your team needs regular, instant access to the latest numbers especially at crucial times during the year, such as period or year end.  

Empower the C suite

It’s the same in every organisation – the C suite wants access to data and insights, but they need their teams to find, gather, interpret and present the results.  

By investing in a smart BI tool, the C suite can easily access and understand their organisation’s data in a few key ways:  

1. Familiar UI

Your C suite is likely familiar with Power BI, if you choose to present your data in this format (as MRI Agora Insights does), it will be easy to navigate.  

2. Access and training

Instead of needing access to multiple systems to view reports – not to mention the training required on those systems and potential user licensing implications! – a powerful BI solution will present your data in one place, with only one place to sign in, and only one system to navigate. With straight-forward training, MRI Agora Insights is intuitive to use.  

3. Mobile-ready insights 

Some dashboards from some providers might even be accessible in mobile format, so busy senior leaders can access insights on-the-go. For example, MRI Agora Insights can be accessed on all types of mobile devices.  

Keen to know more?

Interested to hear how MRI Agora Insights can help your business? Book a discovery call with our friendly team today. 

Keep reading

This article is the second in a series about making smarter decisions through AI-powered business insights. Keep reading to discover the key elements of a data platform, and the questions you should be asking in your organisations.