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Data, BI & Analytics Trend Monitor 2021
The world's largest survey of data, BI and analytics trends
BARC Research Study
Authors Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021
Larissa Baier Nikolai Janoschek
Senior Analyst Analyst
lbaier@barc.de njanoschek@barc.de
Dr. Carsten Bange Patrick Keller
Founder & CEO Senior Analyst
cbange@barc.de pkeller@barc.de
Annika Baumhecker Torsten Krüger
Research Analyst Senior Analyst
abaumhecker@barc.de tkrueger@barc.de
Jacqueline Bloemen Gernot Molin
Senior Analyst Senior Analyst
jbloemen@barc.de gmolin@barc.de
Dr. Christian Fuchs Ann-Katrin Oppmann
Senior Analyst Research Analyst
cfuchs@barc.de aoppmann@barc.de
Timm Grosser Robert Tischler
Senior Analyst Senior Analyst
tgrosser@barc.de rtischler@barc.de
2 Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 ©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center
Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 Table of Contents
32 | Alerting
4 | Foreword
34 | Advanced Analytics/Machine Learning/AI
6 | Management Summary 36 | Integrated Platforms for PM & Analytics
38 |3 Embedded BI and Analytics
9 | Survey Results 40 |3 Cloud for Data and Analytics
42 |3 Mobile BI
10 | BI Trends Overview
44 |3 Analytics Teams/Data Labs
12 | BI Trends Development
46 |3 Decision Automation
14 | The Trends in Detail 48 |3 Data Catalogs
14 | Master Data/Data Quality Management 50 |3 Augmented Analytics
16 | Data Discovery/Visualization 52 |3 IoT Data and Analytics
18 | Establishing a Data-Driven Culture
20 | Data Governance
54 | Recommendations
22 | Self-Service Analytics
57 | Sample & Methodology
24 | Data Warehouse Modernization
26 | Data Preparation by Business Users 58 | BARC Company Profile
28 | Agile BI Development
60 | Sponsor Profiles
30 | Real-Time Analytics
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 3
Foreword
Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 Foreword
2
020 has been a time of fundamental intelligence (AI) and machine learning provide a holistic understanding of
change in many organizations. (ML) have receded into the background in regional, company and industry-specific
The COVID-19 pandemic has had the face of the crisis. Instead, companies differences and offer state-of-the-art
a massive impact on the economy and have focused more on basic operations insights into developments in the BI,
many companies have had to restructure and processes. However, most trends analytics and data management market.
their work. For some, this situation meant are rather stable which shows us that, Our longitudinal analysis also reveals how
shifting their workplace from the office even in times of transition, companies’ trends have developed, making it possible
to their homes. For others who could not focus does not shift in a drastic way. to separate hype from stable trends.
work from home, the workplace had to
T
be made safer. It is hard to imagine an he BARC Data, BI and Analytics Trend Dr. Carsten Bange
area that was not in some way affected Monitor 2021 shows which topics
by the economic, social and individual Würzburg, Germany, November 2020
companies currently rely on and
consequences of this global pandemic. which areas are less important. We asked
BI, analytics and data management are 2,259 users, consultants and vendors
no exception. We have observed this for their opinion on the most important
year that hyped topics such as artificial BI and analytics trends. Their answers
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 5
Management Summary
Management
Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021
Summary
The market for BI and data management is identifying trends: we asked over 2,200 us- hensive insights on the BI, analytics and data
constantly changing. As an industry analyst, ers, consultants and vendors for their views management market. We have condensed the
we frequently highlight and predict important on the most important BI, analytics and data main findings of this study into six result areas
topics that have an impact on the agendas of management trends, delivering an up-to-date in order to contextualize the most striking con-
organizations and the people within them. perspective on regional, company and indus- trasts and continuous trends.
For this study we took a unique approach to try-specific differences and providing compre-
Result Result Best-in-class Result
Top trending topics Vendors vs. users
area 1 area 2 companies area 3
Data quality and master data management Best-in-class companies attach greater impor- In general, vendors, consultants and users
has been ranked as the most important trend tance to all trends than organizations that see have quite a similar view of the importance of
for four years in a row now. The stability of themselves as laggards. However, their per- trends. However, perceptions differ when it
this trend shows the relevance of having good ception of some trends is fairly similar (e.g., comes to real-time analytics and data prepa-
quality data to be significantly higher than oth- data warehouse modernization and embed- ration by business users, which are seen as
er trend topics with a much broader presence ded BI and analytics). considerably more important by users and
in the media. It also reflects the fact that many One thing best-in-class companies and lag- vendors than by consultants. However, users
organizations place high emphasis on their gards do not agree on is the importance of and vendors do not agree when it comes to
master data and data quality management data governance and establishing a data-driv- the relevance of the cloud for data and analyt-
because they have not reached their goals yet. en culture. Laggards place much less empha- ics. Like last year, this is a trend that vendors
This trend is a long-term mission that will re- sis on these trends. For both data governance attach great importance to whereas users
main very important and is also linked to the and data-driven culture, it is hard to define seem less enthusiastic. This also applies in the
equally stable significance of data governance, and measure their actual output in terms of case of augmented analytics, where the view
which is ranked in fourth position again this value for the company. So, it might be that of vendors and users clearly differs. Howev-
year. Data discovery and data visualization re- laggard companies are having a hard time es- er, augmented analytics is a relatively new
mains the second most important trend and tablishing those concepts to begin with and sphere for many companies. It may therefore
is therefore equally as stable as establishing a prefer to concentrate on areas where they become more important for users in the fu-
data-driven culture in third place, where it was already have a foot in the door. However, it ture. The opposite effect can be observed in
also positioned last year. All the top trends could also be argued that laggards might not relation to analytics teams / data labs, which
represent the key message that managing be aware of the benefits or might not have is a trend that users are more likely to rate as
and leveraging data in organizations needs access to adequate resources. Best-in-class important compared to vendors. As a rather
to combine organizational and technological companies, on the other hand, place an espe- ‘organizational’ topic, it is understandable that
elements. They have been consistently sta- cially strong emphasis on these topics. In this it should be closer to the hearts of users than
ble over the years, which reflects the fact that case, the opposite might be true: the benefits software providers.
these trends act as a solid foundation on which of a data-driven culture and data governance
most companies are keen to put great empha- are undisputed and there is access to ade-
sis. quate resources in order to execute a compa-
ny-wide roll out in these areas.
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 7
Management
Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021
Summary
Result Result Result
Industry comparison Global differences Europe
area 4 area 5 area 6
There are some trends that are consist- Observing trends from a geographical per- The importance of BI trends is perceived
ently considered important across all in- spective shows a greater tendency in the quite differently across European coun-
dustries. This especially applies to master APAC region to assess trends as impor- tries. Eastern Europe and the United
data/data quality management as well as tant. In comparison, most trends are gen- Kingdom in particular place greater im-
data discovery/visualization. Meanwhile, erally rated as less important in Europe. portance on most trends than the other
other trends are perceived as less impor- This rather conservative view is typical for European regions. Conversely, the Ger-
tant across all industries, such as IoT data Europe and can be further examined by man-speaking region (Germany, Austria
and analytics and also augmented ana- looking more closely at the regions within and Switzerland – collectively known as
lytics. Nevertheless, the manufacturing Europe (see result area 6). North America DACH) and France place much less impor-
sector pays less attention to most trends and South America have a rather mixed tance on most trends. The only exceptions
than other industries while the telecom- view on trends. While master data/data in the DACH region are self-service analyt-
munications industry attaches greater im- quality management is perceived as im- ics and master data/data quality manage-
portance to the majority of trends. portant, IoT data & analytics is consistently ment: both trends are rated as relatively
Most industries present a mixed view. For deemed as rather irrelevant across all re- important compared to the rating of other
example, the IT sector attaches great im- gions. However, when it comes to alerting, European regions. Master data/data qual-
portance to data discovery and real-time APAC and North America attach greater ity management is also the one trend that
analytics but sees data catalogs as less sig- importance to this topic than Europe and the DACH region values the most out of all
nificant. South America. This finding perfectly il- the trends.
lustrates the fact that priorities vary from All in all, the European perception reflects
These industry-specific differences indi-
region to region. In particular, new trends the overall assessment of the top trends
cate which trends are prioritized, either
are perceived with varying degrees of en- with master data/data quality manage-
because they facilitate day-to-day busi-
thusiasm. ment, data discovery/visualization, data
ness in these sectors or because they add
value over and beyond that. governance and establishing a data-driven
culture as the most important BI trends.
This is a consistent finding over recent
years and it shows that handling and lev-
eraging data is hugely important regard-
less of region.
8 Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 ©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center
Survey Results
BI Trends Overview
Data quality/master data management, data discovery/ Data, BI and Analytics
visualization and data-driven culture are the top trends. Trends Overview
Importance of Data, BI and Analytics trends from “not important at all“
(0) to “very important“ (10)
Viewpoint
7.3 Master data/DQ mgmt
7.1 Data discovery/vis.
We asked users, consultants and software
7.0 Data-driven culture vendors of BI and data management tech-
nology to give their personal rating of the
6.9 Data governance importance of twenty trending topics that
we presented to them. Master data and
6.7 Self-service analytics data quality management in first position
6.0 Data warehouse modernization and data discovery in second are ever-
greens that have been in these top posi-
5.8 Data prep. by business users tions for four years in a row now. Many
companies see these two trends as impor-
5.8 Agile BI development tant and their significance transcends in-
dividual regions and industry sectors. Es-
5.6 Real-time analytics tablishing a data-driven culture is a trend
that was newly introduced to the BARC
5.6 Alerting BI Trend Monitor two years ago. Starting
from rank five in the first edition, it made
5.5 Advanced analytics/machine learning/AI its way up to rank three last year where
it remains this year. Data governance and
5.3 Integrated platforms for PM and analytics
self-service BI (ranked four and five re-
5.2 Embedded BI and analytics spectively) have been equally consistent
trends, but self-service had occupied a
5.0 Cloud for data and analytics higher position before data-driven culture
was introduced.
5.0 Mobile BI All in all, these top five trends represent
the foundation for organizations to man-
5.0 Analytics teams/Data labs age their own data and make good use
of it. Furthermore, they demonstrate that
4.7 Decision automation
organizations are aware of the relevance
4.5 Data catalogs of high quality data and its effective use.
Organizations want to go beyond the col-
4.1 Augmented analytics lection of as much data as possible and ac-
tively use data to improve their business
4.0 IoT data and analytics decisions. This is also supported by data
warehouse modernization, which moved
up one place to sixth position this year.
0 Not important at all Very important 10
n = 2259
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 11BI Trends Development
The trends are relatively stable. The biggest surge in interest Data, BI & Analytics
is seen with cloud for data and analytics. Trends Development
Development of rankings of Data, BI and Analytics trends
Viewpoint
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Master data/DQ management Some trends have slightly increased in
2. 2. 2. 2. 2. Data discovery/visualization importance since last year (e.g., data cata-
logs). However, most have stayed the same
3. 3. 3. 3. 3. Data-driven culture
or just changed one rank. The only excep-
4. 4. 4. 4. 4. Data governance tion is cloud for data & analytics which was
5. 5. 5. 5. 5. Self-service analytics in 18th spot for two years before moving up
to 14th this year. This can be explained by
6. 6. 6. 6. 6. Data warehouse modernization the increasing interest in cloud BI. The idea
7. 7. 7. 7. 7. Data prep. by business users of using a cloud environment to run BI and
analytics is no longer merely promoted by
8. 8. 8. 8. 8. Agile BI development software vendors but is transitioning from
9. 9. 9. 9. 9. Real-time analytics theory into practice. Even though adoption
is developing slowly, the upward trend of
10. 10. 10. 10. 10. Alerting the cloud tells us that companies are be-
11. 11. 11. 11. 11. Adv. analytics/Machine learning/AI coming increasingly familiar with using
cloud, or at least hybrid, solutions.
12. 12. 12. 12. 12. Integr. platforms for PM & analytics
There are also no major shifts in the down-
13. 13. 13. 13. 13. Embedded BI and analytics ward trends. Data preparation by business
14. 14. 14. 14. 14. Cloud for data and analytics users dropped from rank six to rank seven
due to data warehouse modernization be-
15. 15. 15. 15. 15. Mobile BI coming more important. Advanced analyt-
16. 16. 16. 16. 16. Analytics teams/Data labs ics/machine learning and AI also fell one
place to rank eleven. In this case, a con-
17. 17. 17. 17. 17. Decision automation
tinuous downward trend can be observed
18. 18. 18. 18. 18. Data catalogs over the last three years. Companies are
19. 19. 19. 19. 19. Augmented analytics struggling to adapt machine learning mech-
anisms when the foundation – good quality
20. 20. 20. 20. 20. IoT data and analytics and accessible data – has not quite been
achieved yet. Most companies seem to be
going back to the roots and concentrating
Trend not included in Data, on the basics of using and managing their
BI & Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 data before they shift their priorities on to
advanced methods.
n = 2772/2770/2679/2865/2259
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 13Master Data/Data Quality Management
Transport sector and large companies value master data Master Data/Data
management very highly. Southern Europe sees it as less relevant. Quality Management
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
IT user 7.4 1
Company/ Business user 7.4 1
User type 7.1
Consultant 2
Vendor 6.8 1 The importance of data quality and mas-
More than 2500 empl. 7.7 1 ter data management can be explained
Company/ 7.4
very simply: Correct decisions can only be
size 100 - 2500 empl. 1 made on the basis of reliable, consistent
Less than 100 empl. 6.6 3 data. Models can only make accurate pre-
Transport 8.0 1 dictions if they are trained and supplied
Telco 7.8 1
with correct data.
Utilities 7.6 1
Master data provides the structure to un-
derstand and use data. It is only through
Retail/Wholesale 7.5 1 master data that transactional data, IoT
Industry Manufacturing 7.5 1 data and clickstreams get their meaning
Services 7.4 1 and context. Harmonized master data is
7.3 critical to the uniform understanding of
Public sector/Educ. 3
data and the interaction of company di-
Financial Services 7.0 3 visions as it helps to ensure consistent
IT 7.0 2 reporting and data-driven operations.
Best-in Best-in-Class 7.5 4 In today’s digital age, in which data is in-
Class 7.0 creasingly emerging as a factor of pro-
Laggards 1
duction, there is a growing need to use
Europe 7.3 1 and produce high quality data to make
Global South America 7.3 4 new services and products possible.
regions North America 7.3 3 There are proven concepts for increas-
Asia and Pacific 7.1 4 ing data quality and implementing mas-
7.6 ter data management, but it is still a big
UK & Ireland 3
challenge. The critical success factors for
Eastern Europe 7.4 2 sustainable high data quality are defined
DACH 7.4 1 roles and responsibilities, quality assur-
European 7.4 ance processes, the continuous monitor-
regions France 2
7.4 ing of the quality of a company’s data and
BeNeLux 2 – most importantly – everyone’s aware-
Northern Europe 7.0 3 ness and transparency regarding the im-
Southern Europe 6.5 5 pact of poor data quality.
0 10
n = 2,238 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 15Data Discovery/Visualization
Data discovery is prominent in Eastern Europe and best-in-class Data Discovery/
companies, but less relevant to organizations in the DACH region. Visualization
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
IT user 7.1 2
Company/ Consultant 7.0 3
User type Business user 6.9 2
Data discovery is the business-user-driven
Vendor 6.7 3 process of discovering patterns and out-
More than 2500 empl. 7.2 4 liers in data. At least three functional ar-
Company/ 7.0 eas are required to identify patterns and
Less than 100 empl. 1
size
100 - 2500 empl. 7.0 2 outliers efficiently and effectively in an it-
IT 7.6 1 erative approach. Business users must be
7.4 well equipped with data preparation fea-
Telco 3
tures to connect to a wide range of sourc-
Retail/Wholesale 7.4 3 es, clean, enrich and shape data to pub-
Utilities 7.2 2 lish data sets for analytics. These data sets
Industry Public sector/Educ. 7.2 4 are explored by visual analysis or sifted by
Financial Services 7.0 4 guided advanced analytics to reliably iden-
Transport 6.9 5 tify relevant patterns.
Services 6.9 4 Data discovery is evolving along two axes
Manufacturing 6.8 3
to increase efficiency and quality. Improv-
7.8 ing user guidance and automation is at
Best-in Best-in-Class 1
the top of the agenda for most vendors.
Class Laggards 6.7 2 Machine learning is increasingly leveraged
North America 7.5 2 to guide business users and automate
Global South America 7.5 2 tasks through all steps from preparation
regions Asia and Pacific 7.4 3 to visualization. Leading tools help users
Europe 6.8 2 not only to answer their questions but
8.1 they also provide hints and explanations
Eastern Europe 1
(NLG) for questions beyond that. Provid-
France 7.7 1
ing data discovery at scale based on a gov-
Northern Europe 7.6 2 erned platform to allow business users to
European 7.3
regions UK & Ireland 4 build on each other’s assets is also fueling
BeNeLux 7.1 4 innovation.
Southern Europe 6.8 4
DACH 6.5 3
n = 2,238 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 17Data-Driven Culture
UK & Ireland and South America regard data-driven culture as very
Data-Driven Culture
important. The DACH region is some way behind.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
7.1
Viewpoint
IT user 3
Company/ Consultant 6.8 4
User type Business user 6.7 3
6.7 One of the biggest shifts in today’s busi-
Vendor 4
ness world is the transformation from
More than 2500 empl. 7.4 3 isolated and project-oriented data usage
Company/ 6.8 to a completely data-driven enterprise.
Less than 100 empl. 2
size
100 - 2500 empl. 6.8 4 ‘Data-driven’ in this context means that
7.6 as many decisions and processes within
Telco 2
a business as possible are based on data.
Public sector/Educ. 7.6 1 This concerns simple key figures such as
Retail/Wholesale 7.5 2 revenue and profit, but also results from
Financial Services 7.1 2 advanced analytics models. Moreover,
7.0 both quantitative and qualitative data can
Industry Utilities 3
be used to support the decision-making
Services 6.9 3 process, and decision-making on all levels
Transport 6.9 4 – from operational to tactical and strate-
IT 6.8 3 gic – are affected. While companies have
6.6
always been interested in their numbers,
Manufacturing 5 the extent of data use is exercised at a
Best-in Best-in-Class 7.7 3 higher level within a data-driven culture.
Class Laggards 6.5 3 The main aim is to replace managers’ gut
South America 7.8 1
feelings with data-derived facts and to em-
power all employees to actively use data
Global Asia and Pacific 7.8 1 to enhance their daily work. The goal is to
regions North America 7.7 1 fully utilize a company’s potential by mak-
Europe 6.6 4 ing decisions more successful, initiatives
7.9 more effective and competitive advantag-
UK & Ireland 1
es more striking.
Southern Europe 7.7 1
However, a data-driven culture should not
BeNeLux 7.5 1 be interpreted as blindly following num-
European 7.3
regions Eastern Europe 3 bers. Key focus areas should be to en-
Northern Europe 7.0 4 hance data interpretation skills and critical
6.6 thinking. This enables businesses not only
France 4
to base their decisions on data, but also to
DACH 6.1 5 know when it is better not to do so.
0 10
n = 2,236
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 19Data Governance
UK & Ireland leads the way. Data governance is much less
Data Governance
important in small companies and for laggards.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
7.1
Viewpoint
Consultant 1
Company/ IT user 7.0 4
User type Vendor 6.8 2
Business user 6.6 5 Unlike BI or analytics governance, which
More than 2500 empl. 7.5 2 center on preparing and presenting data
Company/ 6.8 for analytical use cases, data governance
100 - 2500 empl. 3
size focuses on the data in all systems that are
Less than 100 empl. 6.3 5 dealing with data. Because business and
Transport 7.5 2 technical responsibilities are traditionally
Public sector/Educ. 7.4 2 covered on a per system level, this over-
Financial Services 7.2 1 arching view of data needs to be specifi-
Telco 7.1 4 cally addressed, preferably by a central
7.1 body within the organization. This ensures
Industry Services 2
6.8
broader thinking in terms of knowledge,
Retail/Wholesale 4
organization and technology.
Utilities 6.7 6
Data governance is needed as the steer-
Manufacturing 6.6 4 ing mechanism for data strategy. A proper
IT 6.5 4 data strategy orchestrates how business
Best-in Best-in-Class 7.8 2 strategy is translated into data and ana-
Class Laggards 6.3 4 lytics. It enables the business to get value
Asia and Pacific 7.6 2 from data. Data strategy manages the ex-
7.2 ploitation of data across all business pro-
Global North America 4
cesses to promote business efficiency and
regions South America 7.0 5
innovation. Data governance is required
Europe 6.7 3 to implement a data strategy, including
UK & Ireland 7.9 2 policies and frameworks to manage, mon-
Northern Europe 7.6 1 itor and protect data capital while taking
BeNeLux 7.2 3 people, processes and technologies into
European France 7.0 3 account. Establishing data governance is
regions a long-term endeavor. Most of all, it re-
Southern Europe 7.0 2
quires a clear, conscious management de-
Eastern Europe 7.0 4 cision on how to work with and use data.
DACH 6.3 4
0 10
n = 2,237 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 21Self-Service Analytics
Especially relevant in best-in-class companies and South
Self-Service Analytics
America, but not so much in Northern Europe.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
IT user 6.8 5
Company/ Consultant 6.7 5
User type Business user 6.7 4
Creating essential parts of analytics and
Vendor 6.4 5 BI content through self-service is part of
More than 2500 empl. 7.1 5 almost every new implementation and
Company/ 6.5
size
100 - 2500 empl. 5 remains a high priority. The continuously
Less than 100 empl. 6.4 4 high demand for self-service underlines
Transport 7.1 3 the importance of equipping modern an-
6.9 alytical landscapes accordingly. But a shift
Financial Services 5
6.9
has taken place. Companies today no
Manufacturing 2
longer solely focus on providing self-ser-
IT 6.9 5 vice capabilities to users to serve their de-
Industry Public sector/Educ. 6.9 5 partmental requirements. They also want
Utilities 6.8 4 to democratize data access while ensuring
Retail/Wholesale 6.7 5 efficient creation and consistent results.
Telco 6.7 5 Self-service analytics allows business us-
Services 6.5 5 ers to self-reliantly answer urgent ques-
7.5 tions and inform decisions and deci-
Best-in Best-in-Class 5
Class 6.0
sion-makers based on solid evidence. To
Laggards 5
do so, they communicate insights and
South America 7.3 3 results via quicker and more efficiently
Global Asia and Pacific 6.9 5 prepared dashboards and reports. The
regions North America 6.7 5 number of implementations that allow
Europe 6.6 5 business users to build their own content,
Southern Europe 7.0 3 a prerequisite to democratizing data, is
6.9 increasing. Not all business users create
UK & Ireland 5
analytics and BI content. Companies need
Eastern Europe 6.8 5
European to understand that self-service does not
DACH 6.6 2 mean that business users do not require
regions
France 6.4 5 IT or analytics and BI experts. They still
BeNeLux 6.4 5 play a major role in enhancing, monitoring
Northern Europe 6.0 7 and supporting successful analytics and BI
environments.
n=2,237 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 23Data Warehouse Modernization
Very important in best-in-class companies. Less important in Data Warehouse
small companies and for vendors. Modernization
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
IT user 6.3 6
Company/ Consultant 6.1 6
User type 5.7
Business user 8
Vendor 5.5 12 Older data warehouse landscapes have
6.4 become too complex to support agile de-
More than 2500 empl. 6
Company/ velopment, or too expensive to have their
100 - 2500 empl. 5.9 6
size functionality extended to accommodate
Less than 100 empl. 5.4 13 modern analytics requirements. Further-
Telco 6.5 6 more, the type of implementation for
Retail/Wholesale 6.3 6 which many data warehouse landscapes
Transport 6.3 6 were originally designed and optimized
6.3 does not cover the way analytics is cur-
Utilities 7
rently moving forward in the direction of
Industry Public sector/Educ. 6.1 6
exploration and operational processing
Financial Services 6.1 6 alongside classical BI requirements.
Manufacturing 5.9 6 Now, organizations are beginning to un-
IT 5.8 10 derstand the new challenges and the po-
Services 5.7 8 tential of alternative methodologies, ar-
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.7 6 chitectural approaches and utilizing other
Class Laggards 6.0 6 technical options such as in-memory,
6.6 cloud data platforms and data warehouse
South America 7
6.2
automation tools. IT must be prepared
Global North America 8
for fast-changing analytical requirements,
regions Asia and Pacific 6.0 12 and must also compete against new and
Europe 5.9 6 cheaper implementation options from ex-
Southern Europe 6.2 6 ternal service providers. Collaborative ap-
France 6.0 7 proaches are needed to cover the increas-
Northern Europe 6.0 6 ing expectations of the business to pull
European 6.0 maximum business value from data. It is
regions Eastern Europe 7
now time to assess historically grown data
UK & Ireland 6.0 7 warehouses against present demands
BeNeLux 5.9 6 and evaluate how updated hardware and
DACH 5.8 6 technology could make life easier.
n = 2,233 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 25Data Preparation by Business Users
Utilities top of the list for data preparation. Northern Europe and Data Preparation by
laggards are less sold on the trend. Business Users
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Business user 6.0 6
Company/ Vendor 5.9 7
User type 5.8
IT user 7
Consultant 5.4 10 Data preparation encompasses cleaning,
6.0 structuring and enriching data for use in
More than 2500 empl. 8
Company/ analytics. Its goal is to build valuable as-
Less than 100 empl. 5.8 6
size sets from raw data to help answer con-
100 - 2500 empl. 5.7 7 crete business questions though analytics.
Utilities 6.7 5 Achieving agile data preparation at scale
Telco 6.2 9 is of utmost importance in today’s volatile
Public sector/Educ. 6.1 7 economy. It is key to leverage enterprise
IT 6.0 7 and external data to inform decisions, au-
Industry Financial Services 5.9 7 tomate processes and monetize data.
Services 5.7 7 Collaboration between development re-
5.7 sources in IT and the business users in-
Manufacturing 7
5.5
volved is vital to ensure high efficiency and
Transport 11
quality. The necessary agility is achieved
Retail/Wholesale 5.4 10 by shifting the task of shaping and enrich-
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.5 9 ing data from IT to business users. Easy-to-
Class Laggards 5.3 8 use and intuitive tools with sophisticated
South America 6.6 6 user guidance and automation powered
Global North America 6.4 7 by machine learning are the foundation
regions 5.8 to infuse efficiency and quality into data
Asia and Pacific 14
preparation efforts. Governing distributed
Europe 5.6 7 data preparation assets cannot by over-
France 6.3 6 valued. Data catalogs serve as inventories
Southern Europe 6.0 8 and ensure access to and reuse of data.
UK & Ireland 6.0 8 Collaboration must be promoted to bene-
European 5.6 fit from democratized access to data. Pro-
regions Eastern Europe 11
5.4 viding the required systems and tools is
DACH 7
just the first step.
BeNeLux 5.3 10
Northern Europe 5.2 12
0 10
n = 2,246 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 27Agile BI Development
Agile BI development is prominent in Northern Europe, but less
Agile BI Development
important in BeNeLux and the IT sector.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Consultant 6.0 7
Company/ IT user 5.7 8
User type Vendor 5.7 10
Business user 5.6 9 Agile BI development is a customer-centric
More than 2500 empl. 6.1 7 approach to provide reliable information
Company/ 5.6 products and services to meet dynamic
size 100 - 2500 empl. 8
Less than 100 empl. 5.5 10 business demand. Business and IT experts
6.4 work together to provide continuous im-
Telco 8
provements to information products. New
Transport 6.2 7
dashboards, reports and KPIs are supplied
Retail/Wholesale 6.0 8 using model-driven, metadata-generated
Services 5.9 6 data pipelines and other data warehouse
Industry Public sector/Educ. 5.8 10 automation concepts. Metrics monitor the
Utilities 5.8 8 quality and usage of the delivered products
Financial Services 5.8 8
or artifacts. The DevOps approach brings a
5.6 mindset and technical best practices to im-
Manufacturing 9
plement an automated continuous delivery
IT 5.5 8 pipeline enabling rapid change. DataOps
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.6 8 aims to accelerate the provision of data
Class Laggards 5.6 7 and its use, to increase data quality, to au-
South America 6.4 8 tomate data-driven processes and to make
Global Asia and Pacific 6.3 9 the value of “data as an asset” accountable.
regions 5.9 The main benefits of agile development are
North America 10
speed, adaptability and closer alignment be-
Europe 5.6 8 tween business and IT.
Northern Europe 6.8 5
UK & Ireland 6.0 6
France 5.8 8
European 5.7
regions Eastern Europe 10
Southern Europe 5.5 11
DACH 5.4 8
BeNeLux 5.3 9
0 10
n = 2,239 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 29Real-Time Analytics
Real-time analytics is a major trend in North America, but less
Real-Time Analytics
important in the DACH region and in financial services.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Business user 5.8 7
Company/ IT user 5.6 9
User type Vendor 5.4 14
Faster reporting and analysis of data,
Consultant 5.2 12 not only in terms of query performance
Less than 100 empl. 5.8 7 (which is still one of the biggest problems
Company/ 5.7 users experience with their BI tools), is a
More than 2500 empl. 10
size challenge in many companies. There is an
100 - 2500 empl. 5.4 10
6.2
increasing need to make data from trans-
IT 9 actional systems available immediately to
Transport 6.0 8 support faster and fact-based operational
Public sector/Educ. 5.9 8 decision-making.
Manufacturing 5.7 8 Analytics with real-time data refers to the
Industry Services 5.6 9 near-immediate processing and provision
Telco 5.6 13 of information about business operations
5.4 in transactional systems (i.e., stream-
Retail/Wholesale 10
ing). Real-time analytics is about catch-
Utilities 5.3 13 ing events or other new data immediate-
Financial Services 5.0 12 ly after their occurrence and processing
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.2 12 them for alerting (e.g., in an operational
Class Laggards 5.1 10
dashboard) or triggering pre-automated
6.6
events (e.g., an algorithm detects certain
North America 6 problems during the manufacturing pro-
Global Asia and Pacific 6.5 6 cess of a given batch and recommends or
regions South America 6.3 9 automatically triggers counter-measures).
Europe 5.1 11 Like visual BI and predictive analytics, ana-
Eastern Europe 6.0 8 lytics with real-time data can complement
UK & Ireland 5.9 10
an organization’s existing analytics strat-
5.4
egy to optimize certain business process-
Southern Europe 14
European es. As real-time analytics is nearly always
BeNeLux 5.4 8 tightly interwoven with a given business
regions
France 5.3 10 process, it is therefore even more impor-
Northern Europe 5.0 15 tant than in standard analytics projects to
DACH 4.7 13
always have the entire process that is to
be adapted and/or optimized in mind.
n = 2,243 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 31Alerting
Best-in-class companies value alerting much more than laggards
Alerting
do.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
IT user 5.6 10
Company/ Consultant 5.5 9
User type Vendor 5.5 11
5.5 Alerting is not a new feature in analytics
Business user 11
5.7
and BI, but recently its application has
Less than 100 empl. 8
Company/ changed significantly. Alerts always aimed
100 - 2500 empl. 5.6 9
size to save time by focusing the attention of
More than 2500 empl. 5.5 11 business users with notifications based
Telco 6.4 7 on recent events. But approaches that
Transport 5.9 9 required the upfront definition of what is
Retail/Wholesale 5.6 9 deemed relevant, such as selecting KPIs
5.6 and setting thresholds, failed to fully live
Financial Services 9
up to their promise as they often did not
Industry Services 5.5 11 grasp impactful changes.
Manufacturing 5.5 10
More recently, powered by machine learn-
Public sector/Educ. 5.4 12 ing and brought to prominence by the
IT 5.4 15 discussion around augmented analytics,
Utilities 5.3 15 alerts have moved from upfront definition
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.7 7 to machine-made recommendations in-
Class Laggards 5.3 9 fused by usage patterns. ML is employed
6.2 in leading tools to focus the awareness
Asia and Pacific 11
of users on trends and outliers they were
Global North America 5.9 9 previously not looking for. Alerts can not
regions South America 5.6 15 only notify users of important changes,
Europe 5.4 9 they can also trigger automated process-
Eastern Europe 5.9 9 es spanning multiple business applica-
UK & Ireland 5.8 11 tions. These alerts are often placed to
5.7 detect events on real-time data streams.
Southern Europe 9
European 5.6
Here, the impact of analytics on business
regions Northern Europe 9
success and data monetization becomes
France 5.3 9 obvious.
DACH 5.2 9
BeNeLux 5.2 11
n = 1,651 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 33Advanced Analytics/ Machine Learning/AI
Companies in eastern Europe companies place the most value on Advanced Analytics/
advanced analytics, France and UK & Ireland much less so. Machine Learning/AI
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
6.0
Viewpoint
Vendor 6
Company/ Consultant 5.6 8
User type Business user 5.3 12
5.3 Advanced analytics, machine learning and AI
IT user 11
are important trends among BI & analytics
More than 2500 empl. 5.8 9
Company/ decision-makers for 2020.
100 - 2500 empl. 5.4 11
size Advanced analytics uses mathematical and
Less than 100 empl. 5.3 14 statistical algorithms in order to generate
Telco 6.0 10 new information, identify patterns and de-
Public sector/Educ. 5.8 9 pendencies, and calculate forecasts. There is
Utilities 5.7 10 a major drive to completely automate specific
Services 5.6 10 decision processes with AI.
Industry Financial Services 5.5 10 The number of possible use cases is immense,
5.4 and ranges from conducting forecasts on in-
IT 14
5.3
come, prices, sales, or customer value to pre-
Retail/Wholesale 12
venting contract cancellations, optimizing un-
Transport 5.3 13 planned machine downtime, and many more
Manufacturing 5.2 13 besides.
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.0 13 Line of business and IT decision-makers and
Class Laggards 5.1 11 managers need to assess which use cases to
Asia and Pacific 6.3 8 tackle, the level of priority advanced analyt-
Global North America 5.7 12 ics should have in the company as a whole,
regions 5.7 which roles are required (and with which
South America 13
5.3
capabilities), and which technology fits best.
Europe 10
Many companies have now moved on from
Eastern Europe 6.5 6 experimentation into actual deployment of
Southern Europe 6.2 7 AI. Here, new DevOps and MLOps-enabled
Northern Europe 5.7 8 products and cloud services have greatly re-
European 5.2 duced the complexity . Additionally, consider-
regions BeNeLux 12
DACH 5.2 10 ations of bias in algorithmic decision-making
5.1 and ethical standards for such solutions are
UK & Ireland 15
gaining in importance.
France 5.0 12
0 10
n = 2,230 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 35Integrated Platforms for Performance Management (PM) and Analytics
A big gap exists between best-in-class companies and laggards Integrated Platforms
as well as between UK & Ireland and France. PM and Analytics
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Vendor 5.5 13
Company/ Business user 5.5 10
User type Consultant 5.1 13
5.0 Decision-making in an increasingly com-
IT user 14 plex and volatile world needs transpar-
More than 2500 empl. 5.5 12 ent plans and data analyses. Therefore,
Company/ 5.4 the seamless integration of performance
size Less than 100 empl. 12
5.1 management (particularly planning) and
100 - 2500 empl. 12 analytics functionality is beneficial to sup-
IT 6.0 8 port decision-making processes optimally.
Telco 5.8 12 Best-in-class companies and users know
5.5 that there can be no transparent deci-
Transport 12
sion-making without supporting function-
Public sector/Educ. 5.4 13 ality for planning, reporting (e.g., results
Industry Manufacturing 5.3 11 reports), analysis (e.g., analyses of planned
5.3 and actual values) and dashboarding (e.g.,
Utilities 12
monitoring). Having all these options in
Services 5.1 14 one common and integrated platform
Retail/Wholesale 5.0 14 is a decisive factor for sustained success
Financial Services 4.6 17
when integrating performance manage-
ment and analytics. Consequently, this
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.3 10 integration has been one of the most sta-
Class Laggards 4.9 14 ble and relevant trends in the market for
Asia and Pacific 6.2 10 years and software vendors equip their
software tools with comprehensive func-
Global South America 5.6 14 tionality accordingly.
regions North America 5.5 14 Integrated platforms for performance
Europe 5.1 12 management and analytics are equally rel-
UK & Ireland 5.7 12
evant for all user types, company sizes and
industries. Best-in-class companies in par-
Southern Europe 5.5 12 ticular have invested heavily in integrating
BeNeLux 5.5 7 performance management and analytics
European 5.2 processes as well as specialist software
regions Northern Europe 11
solutions and the benefits from this effort
Eastern Europe 5.0 15 have been empirically proven. Supporting
DACH 5.0 11 performance management and analytics
France 3.9 18 on an integrated data platform with an in-
tegrated tool is a goal worth investing in.
0 10
n = 2,225 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 37Embedded BI and Analytics
Embedded BI and analytics is most relevant within best-in-class com- Embedded BI
panies, and least relevant in France and financial services. and Analytics
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
5.7
Viewpoint
Vendor 9
Company/ IT user 5.2 12
User type Business user 5.1 13
Consultant 5.0 14 Embedding intelligence in operational ap-
Less than 100 empl. 5.4 11 plications is growing steadily in popularity.
Company/ More than 2500 empl. 5.2 From dashboards to prediction and opti-
14
size mization models, users get insights direct-
100 - 2500 empl. 5.1 13 ly in their specific operational processes
Utilities 5.7 9 and can act on the findings – closing the
IT 5.7 11 classic management loop from informa-
Manufacturing 5.2 12 tion to action at an operational level. Em-
5.2 bedded BI and analytics enables users to
Telco 16
derive information rapidly by themselves
Industry Services 5.1 12 without having to involve the IT depart-
Public sector/Educ. 5.1 14 ment or supervisors. In effect, many more
Transport 5.1 15 people gain access to information and BI
Retail/Wholesale 4.9 16 capabilities, making BI more pervasive or
4.7 “democratic”. It even allows for automated
Financial Services 14
processes where no active user request is
Best-in Best-in-Class 5.8 14 needed to initiate data analysis or actions
Class Laggards 5.1 12 based on data-driven decisions. However,
Asia and Pacific 5.7 15 this operationalization of BI and analytics
North America 5.7 13 implies various challenges. For example,
Global
regions 5.5 clarifying the responsibilities of the BI/an-
South America 17
alytics and application teams, integrating
Europe 4.9 13 operational BI in a holistic data and ana-
Northern Europe 5.3 10 lytics strategy that also includes classic
BeNeLux 5.1 13 and explorative BI, and deciding whether
UK & Ireland 5.0 17 to “make or buy” embedded functions.
European 4.9 Also, the broad approach of automating
Southern Europe 17
regions decisions through embedded models and
DACH 4.9 12 rules brings about completely new possi-
Eastern Europe 4.8 18 bilities and challenges.
France 4.7 13
0 10
n = 2,225 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 39Cloud for Data and Analytics
Cloud for data and analytics is most relevant in Asia & Pacific. Cloud for Data and
Less popular in Europe, especially in France. Analytics
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Vendor 5.9 8
Company/ Consultant 5.2 11
User type Business user 4.9 15 The global trend of running applications in
IT user 4.7 17 a cloud environment started to branch out
Less than 100 empl. 5.6 9 into the analytics domain about ten or twelve
Company/ 5.2 years ago. Start-ups were founded to disrupt
More than 2500 empl. 15
size the established vendors with a platform- or
100 - 2500 empl. 4.7 16 software-as-a-service business model. The
IT 5.9 9 incumbent vendors, who typically generated
Retail/Wholesale 5.0 15 their revenues from on-premises implemen-
5.0 tations, followed suit and now nearly every
Services 16
analytics, CPM and data management vendor
Telco 4.9 17 offers a cloud-based solution.
Industry Transport 4.8 16 Cloud analytics and data management now
Manufacturing 4.7 15 have very similar functional capabilities to
Financial Services 4.6 16 their corresponding on-premises products.
4.5 Licensing is often based on a rental or pay-
Utilities 20
per-use model, which reduces the one-off
Public sector/Educ. 4.4 18 investment. However, the adoption rate for
Best-in Best-in-Class 5.7 16 cloud analytics and data management de-
Class Laggards 4.7 15 ployments is still rising slowly. It is not the
6.4 attractiveness of the platform that deters
Asia and Pacific 7
organizations from moving their analytics
Global North America 5.9 11 landscapes into the cloud. Instead, there are
regions South America 5.3 18 many contributing factors: legal, security and
Europe 4.6 16 privacy concerns, a shortage of best practice
5.9 advice on how to build hybrid or multi-cloud
UK & Ireland 9 architectures, a lack of trust in the vendors,
Southern Europe 5.2 15 and the desire to keep company data under
Eastern Europe 5.2 13 the control of the IT. However, the overarch-
European 4.7 ing issue is that analytics leaders prefer to
BeNeLux 15
regions bring the analytics to the data, and not the
Northern Europe 4.5 17 other way around. As such, organizations
DACH 4.3 16 with much of their data already in the cloud
France 3.8 20 show a much higher cloud affinity than those
with all their data on premises.
n = 2,240 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 41Mobile BI
Mobile BI is most important in the retail/wholesale sector and
Mobile BI
Asia & Pacific and least relevant in France.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Business user 5.0 14
Company/ IT user 5.0 15
User type Vendor 4.9 17
4.7
Mobile BI – driven by the success of mo-
Consultant 16
bile devices – was considered by many as
More than 2500 empl. 5.2 16 a big wave in BI and analytics around the
Company/ 4.9 beginning of 2010s. Many BI vendors de-
100 - 2500 empl. 14
size
Less than 100 empl. 4.9 15 veloped native apps to provide analytics
Retail/Wholesale 6.0 7
on mobile devices. However, adoption
5.7
was very slow and there was a degree of
IT 15 disillusion in the market. Our survey re-
Utilities 5.3 11 sults show that mobile BI usage grew very
Manufacturing 4.9 14 slowly and has in fact declined since pea-
Industry Telco 4.9 18 king at 30 percent in 2018. Currently only
4.8 27 percent of the companies we surveyed
Services 17
use mobile BI. Another 18 percent tell
Public sector/Educ. 4.8 17 us that they plan to use it in the next 12
Transport 4.7 17 months, but in practice only a fraction of
Financial Services 4.4 18 them actually will.
Best-in Best-in-Class 5.7 15 In our experience, the most successful mo-
Class Laggards 4.5 17 bile deployments are those in which a mo-
Asia and Pacific 5.9 13
bile strategy has already been devised and
the needs of mobile workers are carefully
Global South America 5.9 12 addressed with the BI tool. So, for examp-
regions North America 5.1 17 le, simply copying an existing dashboard
Europe 4.8 14 to a mobile environment does not fulfill
Southern Europe 5.5 13 the requirements of all different types of
5.4 users. There is great potential for mobile
UK & Ireland 13
BI to support operational processes while
Northern Europe 5.0 14
European simultaneously increasing the penetration
Eastern Europe 4.9 17 of BI within organizations. Therefore, it
regions
BeNeLux 4.7 16 is not surprising to see the retail, utilities
DACH 4.6 14 and manufacturing industries using data
4.3 on mobile devices more frequently than
France 14
others.
n = 2,232 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 43Analytic Teams/Data Labs
Best-in-class companies are much more aware of the value of Analytic Teams/
analytics teams than laggards. Vendors are the less enthusiastic. Data Labs
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
IT user 5.2 13
Company/ Business user 4.8 16
User type 4.7
Consultant 17
Data science is the generic term for pro-
Vendor 4.4 18 cesses that generate knowledge out of
More than 2500 empl. 5.4 13 data using methods from statistics, ma-
Company/ 4.8 chine learning, artificial intelligence and
size Less than 100 empl. 16
4.8 operations research. Data labs are sepa-
100 - 2500 empl. 15
rate organizational units, specifically de-
Telco 6.0 11 signed to conduct the first project steps in
Transport 5.6 10 data science projects within the organiza-
Public sector/Educ. 5.6 11 tion. They offer a space for design thinking
5.3 and experimentation, aside from estab-
Financial Services 11
lished processes in the organization. Data
Industry Retail/Wholesale 5.1 13 labs require investment in personnel as
Services 5.0 15 well as new technologies to store, process
IT 5.0 16 and analyze data.
Utilities 5.0 16 Against that backdrop, it is not surprising
4.5 that data science and data labs are of in-
Manufacturing 16 creasing importance for larger companies.
Best-in Best-in-Class 6.3 11 Businesses in many different industries
Class Laggards 5.0 13 are adopting data science and data labs.
South America 5.9 11 The investment cost for data labs has de-
5.7
creased significantly over time as more
Global Asia and Pacific 16 software and cloud services providers have
regions North America 5.4 16 hit the market and general competition
Europe 4.7 15 has increased. However, considerable in-
Southern Europe 5.5 10
vestment in terms of staff is still required.
Integrating data labs and analytics teams
UK & Ireland 5.3 14 poses new challenges and requires revised
Eastern Europe 5.3 12 organizational approaches to link data
European 5.0 labs, IT departments and business units.
regions France 11
4.7 Many companies therefore integrate data
BeNeLux 14
scientists into IT or line of business. This
Northern Europe 4.6 16 has many advantages, especially for the
DACH 4.4 15 operationalization of analytics solutions.
n = 2,229 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 45Decision Automation
Decision automation is very popular in South America. Its
Decision Automation
relevance is much lower in France and the manufacturing sector.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Vendor 4.9 15
Company/ IT user 4.7 18
User type Consultant 4.6 18
Business user 4.5 17 The primary goal of BI and analytics to-
4.8 day is to enable decision-makers to make
More than 2500 empl. 18
Company/ 4.7
better informed decisions. However, the
Less than 100 empl. 17
size number of processes and decision-mak-
100 - 2500 empl. 4.6 17 ing situations in which a person should or
Telco 5.6 14 can no longer be asked to make decisions
Utilities 5.3 14 is increasing. This is the case when a large
Services 5.1 13 number of decisions have to be made in
Public sector/Educ. 4.8 16 a very short time, the amount of data to
4.8 be processed for decisions is very high or
Industry IT 17
the complexity of the correlations that in-
Retail/Wholesale 4.7 17 fluence a decision becomes too high for
Financial Services 4.7 15 humans.
Transport 4.5 18 This naturally affects initially very sim-
Manufacturing 4.0 19 ple operational decisions that have to be
Best-in Best-in-Class 5.5 17 made within a clear framework of a few
Class Laggards 4.4 18 decision options. The basis for this is a set
South America 6.0 10 of rules or, increasingly, models that can
5.4 be built up using statistical or machine
Global North America 15
learning methods.
regions Asia and Pacific 5.3 18
4.4
Examples of automated decisions already
Europe 17
exist today - in the detection of fraud in
Eastern Europe 5.1 14 financial transaction data, dynamic pric-
Northern Europe 5.1 13 ing in online retail and in the scheduling
UK & Ireland 5.0 16 of orders in service, production or logistics
European 4.9 processes. In these examples, the shift of
Southern Europe 16
regions the human role from decision-maker to
BeNeLux 4.5 19
4.2 creator and supervisor of decision models
DACH 18
has already happened.
France 4.0 17
n = 1,647 0 10
Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 47Data Catalogs
Data catalogs are especially popular in the telecommunications
Data Catalogs
sector, but less so in Northern Europe and for business users.
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
IT user 4.9 16
Company/ Consultant 4.8 15
User type 4.2
Vendor 19
Business user 4.2 18
Data is essential for BI and analytics and
4.9 thus also for expanding a company’s abil-
More than 2500 empl. 17
Company/ ity to respond to change through digitali-
100 - 2500 empl. 4.4 18
size zation. However, the ability to use data is
Less than 100 empl. 4.2 19 no small matter. Data that is incomplete,
Telco 5.3 15 inaccurate or inaccessible hinders the BI
Transport 5.1 14 and analytics process and impairs value
Public sector/Educ. 5.0 15 creation from data. The desire for a cen-
4.9 tral data store can therefore be great, but
Utilities 17
also very complex to implement.
Industry Financial Services 4.9 13
4.6 A solution to these challenges is seen in
IT 18
the deployment of a data catalog. Data
Services 4.5 18 catalogs are designed to register, catalog
Retail/Wholesale 4.3 18 and link data in order to make it findable
Manufacturing 4.2 18 and usable for “everyone”. This helps to
Best-in Best-in-Class 5.3 18 fulfill regulatory as well as business re-
Class Laggards 4.6 16 quirements. This is possible by describing
5.0 data objects and their relationships with
South America 19
metadata without having to physically in-
Global North America 5.0 18 tegrate data. The use of a data catalog,
regions Asia and Pacific 4.7 19 however, requires a different way of think-
Europe 4.3 18 ing and an awareness that data catalogs
Eastern Europe 5.0 16 must be actively maintained. Technology
UK & Ireland 4.7 18 can assist this process with connectors to
BeNeLux 4.7 17
different types of sources, workflows, UIs
European 4.3 and collaboration functions as well as line-
regions France 15
age analysis and cross references to auto-
DACH 4.2 17 mate metadata ingestion and preparation.
Southern Europe 4.2 19 But building a data catalog and keeping it
Northern Europe 4.0 20 alive is much more of an organizational
challenge.
0 10
n = 2,214 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 49Augmented Analytics
Augmented analytics is a bigger trend in South America, but less Augmented
relevant in the DACH region and for laggards. Analytics
Rank of trend
in this region/
Average industry etc.
Viewpoint
Vendor 4.9 16
Company/ IT user 4.1 19
User type Consultant 4.0 20
Business user 3.8 19 Augmented analytics describes features
More than 2500 empl. 4.3 19
that supplement human capabilities with
Company/ 4.3 machine learning to couple creative prob-
size Less than 100 empl. 18
lem solving with unrivaled pattern recog-
100 - 2500 empl. 3.8 19 nition to get the best out of two worlds.
Telco 4.8 19 This approach plays an increasingly im-
Utilities 4.6 19 portant role in data preparation, visuali-
Services 4.2 19 zation and discovery. The major goal is to
IT 4.0 20 make analytics and BI easier to use to low-
Industry 4.0 er the entry barrier for casual users and at
Retail/Wholesale 19
the same time increase the efficiency and
Transport 4.0 20
effectiveness of power users.
Public sector/Educ. 4.0 19
ML is leveraged in augmented analytics not
Financial Services 3.9 19 only to identify correlations, clusters, out-
Manufacturing 3.8 20 liers and trends in data. More users are at-
Best-in Best-in-Class 4.8 19 tracted to use analytics by adding features
Class Laggards 3.7 19 such as natural language queries as they
South America 5.5 16 can get answers simply by searching data
5.3 in a Google-like manner. Additionally, us-
Global Asia and Pacific 17
regions ers are presented with automated insights
North America 4.6 19 that are explained in natural language too.
Europe 3.8 20 Beyond democratizing access to valuable
Eastern Europe 4.8 19 data sources, users are actively assisted
BeNeLux 4.6 18 when preparing data or creating visualiza-
Northern Europe 4.3 18 tions. Leading tools recommend steps to
European 4.2 ‘heal’ data quality issues or the best way to
regions UK & Ireland 20
4.0 visualize data. While the use of augment-
Southern Europe 20
ed analytics is currently not extensive, the
France 3.9 19 limited spread of the term is expected to
DACH 3.5 20 reduce the number of positive responses.
0 10
n = 1,650 Not important at all Very important
©2020 BARC – Business Application Research Center Data, BI and Analytics Trend Monitor 2021 51You can also read
