A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
How Improving Your SaaS Product Analytics Experience Unlocks Growth
In today's fast-evolving world of software development, user expectations for in-product analytics have taken a dynamic turn. Traditional software analytics, once static and one-dimensional, no longer aligns with the multifaceted needs of modern users. The shift toward interactive reporting signifies a departure from merely presenting data to actively exploring it.
Users now crave more than passive data consumption; they seek the power to interact with their data, dissect it in real-time, and harness it for well-informed decision-making. Software companies that fail to adapt to these evolving user expectations face tangible business repercussions. But there's a way forward: embedding BI (Business Intelligence) tools and capabilities directly into your software product.
Embedding BI into your software can lead to a more competitive and feature-rich product, increased customer satisfaction, and additional revenue streams. This guide explores the current landscape of in-product analytics, the imperatives of embedding analytics, and how it can enrich user experiences and drive sustainable business outcomes.
SaaS user expectations for in-product analytics are evolving.
Traditional in-product reporting falls short of meeting the dynamic and multifaceted needs of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) users today. The evolution towards interactive analytics signals a departure from data presentation to data exploration. Users want to do more than just see their data; they want to interact with it and explore it in real-time as the fuel for informed decision-making.
Traditional analytics
- Static and one-dimensional
- Predefined outputs
- Limited interactivity
- Constrained adaptability
Modern analytics
- Highly interactive
- Real-time data
- Empowered user autonomy
- Enhanced data governance
If software companies fail to adapt to evolving user expectations, the business impact is tangible.
- Increased customer churn due to the absence of expected analytics features
- Hindered customer acquisition as competitors offer superior analytics solutions
- Amplified customer frustration with slower response times to address reporting needs
- Intensified pressure on product teams to balance the demand for both product features and reporting enhancements
Integration and User Interface
Seamless integration of data sources, a user-friendly interface, and customization to match the software's look and feel.
Data Analysis and Visualization
Tools for data analysis, visualization, and user interaction, empowering users to explore and understand data intuitively.
Security, Support, and Scalability
Robust security, access controls, user support, scalability, and performance monitoring to ensure data protection, smooth user experiences, and adaptability to growing demands.
The OneSix Advantage: BI Implementation Expertise for SaaS
As a team of seasoned consultants, OneSix combines its expertise in data, analytics, and user experience to curate a symbiotic relationship between analytical prowess and user experience. This service offering helps software companies transform their in-product analytics from a retrospective, static reflection of data to an interactive and strategic tool, where users are continually engaged, informed, and empowered in their data interactions and decision-making.
Needs Assessment
We'll conduct a thorough evaluation of your requirements and use cases, ensuring a clear understanding of project objectives and ramping up quickly.
Data Stack Tool Selection
We'll lead the tool seland seamlessly integrate a suitable BI tool into the software application, aligning it with the company's brand and design preferences.
Data Modeling and Integration
We'll design efficient data models and ensure a smooth integration with existing data sources to support the required analytics and reporting functionalities.
User Experience Design
Security and Scalability Planning
We'll implement robust security measures, defining access controls, and planning for scalability to accommodate growth and ensure data privacy and compliance. In addition, we'll provide training sessions for in-house data teams and developers on how to effectively use and navigate the embedded BI features.
Embedding BI can be validated with quantifiable savings and business impact.
By reducing the dependence on internal teams for custom report development, tangible hours are reclaimed within these teams, which can be reoriented towards other strategic initiatives. Financially, the avoidance of custom development, coupled with the utilization of pre-built solutions, presents cost savings, which, when assessed against the enhanced user satisfaction and reduced churn, paints a compelling picture of the value delivered by embedding advanced analytical reporting capabilities.
Save Time
Streamline development
Embedding analytics tools can save time on building custom reporting and data visualization features. Instead of reinventing the wheel, software developers can leverage pre-built analytics solutions, reducing development time and effort.
Accelerate time to market
With embedded analytics, software companies can bring products to market more quickly. They can focus on their core application features, while analytics tools handle data analysis and reporting, speeding up the development process.
Empower users to self-serve
Embedded analytics often include self-service features that empower end-users to create their own reports and visualizations. This reduces the burden on IT or development teams to fulfill data-related requests, freeing up time for more critical tasks.
Reduce Costs
Minimize development costs
Building custom analytics features from scratch can be time-consuming and costly. Embedded analytics solutions provide pre-built, cost-effective options, saving on development expenses.
Reduce infrastructure costs
Embedded analytics solutions are cloud-based, which means software companies can avoid investing in and maintaining their own infrastructure. This reduces capital expenditure and ongoing operational expenses.
Scale without scaling costs
Embedded analytics solutions are designed to scale efficiently as user and data volumes grow. This scalability allows software companies to expand their offerings without incurring proportionate increases in costs.
Impact the Bottom Line
Increase revenue
Embedded analytics can help software companies create premium versions of their products or charge for enhanced analytics features, generating additional revenue streams.
Gain a competitive advantage
Software products with embedded analytics are often more attractive to customers, giving companies a competitive edge in the market and potentially increasing market share and sales.
Increase customer retention
Providing in-depth data insights and analytics within the software can improve customer satisfaction, leading to higher retention rates and reducing customer churn.
Maximize upsell opportunities
Embedded analytics can be used as a value-added feature, allowing software companies to upsell to existing customers and increase their average revenue per user.
Slow Reporting Lead Times
Our client, a learning management software provider, had a platform with limited reporting capabilities for their customers. New requests for dashboards or reports often required long lead times and were painfully slow to build for their reporting team. Simple enhancements like adding a field to a report required a clunky ticketing system.
The SaaS provider wanted to introduce a BI solution that would empower their customers to self-serve many of their data needs and free up their internal reporting team to tackle higher-value tasks.
An Embedded Analytics Solution
Utilizing an agile methodology process, OneSix designed, built, and implemented a modern data stack with an end-to-end Data Warehouse, data transformation capabilities, and data visualization technologies that created opportunities for insights that were previously impossible with their previous technology.
Data models were designed to expand reporting capabilities of the customer’s source data. Initial dashboards were created to give customers a jump-start with the new BI solution and immediately start generating insights. OneSix also partnered and led training sessions with both client team members and customers of the client to create a high rate of knowledge transfer.
2X Increase in ARR
The implementation of the Embedded Analytics solution brought about significant positive changes for the SaaS provider:
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Exceeded expected conversion rate two-fold within 3 months of launch of the new platform
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Doubled Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) from their customers
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Gained a competitive advantage by enabling customers to self-serve all their reporting needs and accomplish exponentially more than previously possible
Inefficient Legacy Reporting
Chordline Health, a healthcare software provider, wanted to gain a competitive advantage with their SaaS application by offering feature-rich analytics embedded into the application.
Existing analytics was driven off the single-tenant operational databases using complex SQL statements that could not be reused across customers due to the different data models per customer. Any needed changes were restricted by the legacy approach that required extensive labor and testing to enhance. The application experienced severe performance issues. A scalable solution was needed to expose the trove of data for customers that could be easily integrated into their application.
An Embedded Analytics Solution
OneSix designed an end-to-end automated framework to load multi-model databases per customer into a Data Lake and transformed that into a multi-tenet Data Warehouse addressing Cases, Authorizations, To-do lists, and Compliance threshold reporting.
All new tools and platforms were introduced that would help automate new customer loads by using a simple control table. A live connection to the data warehouse using the powerful Snowflake engine served embedded analytics using Sisense visualization. The complex security model was simplified via two security tables that allowed bi-directional integration between Sisense and the SaaS application.
Performance and Cost Optimization
The implementation of the Embedded Analytics solution brought about significant positive changes for the SaaS provider:
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Improved SaaS application performance as analytics are now driven off a separate database and not contending for resources off their main application
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Reduced labor time and costs by providing a single warehouse and transformation architecture that catered to multiple versions of their applications
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Technical Architecture Example
Is subpar in-product reporting holding back your SaaS users—and your business?
OneSix invites you to join us for a 30-minute assessment, tailored specifically for software companies like yours. This session aims to:
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Assess your current state and unique challenges
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Identify ways to leverage embedded, white-labeled BI
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Get started with an action plan
Together, we can explore the transformative power of data, offering insights and strategies to propel your software organization to new heights. Let's collaborate!