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Self-service business intelligence (SSBI) is a relatively new approach to business intelligence that allows less tech-savvy end users to perform data analytics on their own, rather than relying on skilled and experienced professional teams.
Techopedia Explains Self-Service Business Intelligence
Business intelligence in general refers to getting actionable data from enterprise big data sets. There are numerous ways to pursue business intelligence, but self-service business intelligence (SSBI) has been emerging as a popular option, in part because it allows a client company to do more without as much support from an IT vendor.
There are various principles at work in SSBI — one overarching principle is the provision of systems that allow users to build their own query systems and business intelligence research setups from existing tools and resources. Many experts talk about “personalized dashboards” as a way to provide user-friendly tools for data analytics. They also talk about linking them to a high-powered data warehouse component, so that data can be easily and quickly funneled to and from a central repository.
Another big issue in SSBI is making the available information accessible to the end user or, in other words, translating technical systems for clients. Some SSBI systems provide specific tools for “interpreting” metadata to show inexperienced end users where certain information may be. There is also the use of data visualization, which formulates information into easy-to-use charts and graphs.
All of this supports a system that pushes more of the potential and responsibility for use to the “lay person” or non-technical end user, as opposed to having those people relay their requests to skilled IT teams. This is going to be a major component of business intelligence going forward and a significant issue in the future of enterprise systems.
