To explain why I genuinely believe that voice assistants will disrupt the world of business intelligence and analytics, we have to start with a little backstory. It goes back to the acquisition of my first Alexa device somewhere around late 2018.
Since then, a lot happened. Almost every person I know is using some kind of voice assistant today—either an Alexa speaker, Siri from Apple, or Google products. Initially only used as an AM/FM device, voice assistants are slowly but surely becoming an integral part of many people’s life.
Listening to the latest news, ordering something to eat, getting a taxi, or placing a grocery order are just a few examples of how voice assistants are already used. And, since we’re at the very start of this innovation, voice assistants will take over more and more daily routines in the coming years.
The Rise Of An Exciting New Era
I’m totally convinced that we are witnessing the rise of an entirely new and exciting era. Comparable to the early days of smartphones and the first iPhone.
Nevertheless, many people doubt that Alexa, Siri, or Google will play a dominant role in the future comparable to smartphones today. On top of that, only a few people put voice assistants in the context of business intelligence and analytics at the moment.
However, there’s one essential reason why I’m so convinced that voice assistants are going to conquer our daily life, the field of business intelligence, analytics, and many additional areas: Convenience!
People value convenience above everything else. And voice assistants easily outperform smartphones when it comes to convenience. You don’t have to get your smartphone out of your pocket and waste time typing and reading. You simply talk and listen — most likely, while doing many other things in parallel.
Adapting Voice Assistant To Business Intelligence & Analytics — Or: Your Data Get A Voice!
Why I’m telling you all this? My fascination with voice assistants and especially the future role of this innovation in our life has steadily increased. So I started to make up my mind if and how this innovation is going to influence the world of KPIs, business intelligence, and analytics.
Today, after many discussions with people from the tech industry, I firmly believe that there’s no way around voice assistants. And the reason is identic with the usage in our private lives: It’s all about convenience.
Here are three stages I can envision (from today’s point-of-view) about how voice assistants will change the way approach business intelligence and analytics.
Stage 1 — Business Intelligence Basics
Let’s start this journey step-by-step. Similar to the rise at home, we will see very basic functions first. At the first stage, you won’t take a look at your smartphone anymore (at least in many situations), but just ask: Alexa, how’s the current performance of the company? Or ask Siri for the number of today’s revenues, the current costs, or the number of employees
Indeed, you can check these figures already today. So these won’t be an added value in terms of information. However, as previously mentioned, it’ll be much more convenient to ask instead of checking the numbers on your mobile or laptop.
You will do that while having the first coffee in the morning, writing an email, or getting ready for the next meeting.
Stage 2 — Voice Assistants To Drive Business Intelligence & Analytics Innovation
With the evolving skills of voice assistants, basic questions will quickly turn into conversations. Besides an immense level of convenience, conversations will contribute to providing enhanced information.
Imagine the following chat:
- You: Alexa, how’s are today’s revenue numbers??
- Alexa: Today’s revenues —up to now— are $1,2450,000
- You: How’s that compared to yesterday?
- Alexa: Compared to yesterday’s the revenues dropped by 8.6%
- You: What are the reasons for the worse performance?
- Alexa: Sales number of product XYZ sharply dropped.
- You: Is every country affected?
- Alexa: Especially in Europe, the number dropped.
- …and so on
Of course, this is just an example. Nonetheless, it demonstrates the massive potential voice assistants hold. And by the way, bear in mind, you get all this information while eating, drinking, or working at the same time.
Again, with this second stage, there’s no information contained that couldn’t be retrieved without using voice assistants. But efficiency is the killer here. Imagine how long it takes you today to get the information from the example above? Depending on your position, I’d guess something around 30 minutes and a few days. The conversation above probably takes 2 minutes.
And this is just one example. I always like to call this 2nd stage “Analytics on the Go”. You’re analyzing your business and performance without Excel sheets, Tableau reports, or support from IT guys — simply by asking your voice assistant.
Stage 3 — Voice Assistants To Create New Insights
I can’t imagine all potential use cases voice assistants are going to enable in terms of business intelligence and analytics. However, compared to today’s possibilities, stage three holds an unmatchable potential for insights and efficiency.
So what’s stage three about? Actually, it’s just the next natural evolvement. Instead of asking basic questions, you will be able to go for more sophisticated things. Questions that include more variables or operations.
Here are two examples:
- Hey Siri, how’s today’s revenue in North America compared to the year-to-day average?
- Hey Google, looking at the product category XYZ which product shows the highest increase compared to last year
Of course, such sophisticated questions can —similar to stage 2— end in a conversation to get even more business intelligence insights.
Stage three definitely holds enormous potential — for efficiency, insights, and convenience. Getting answers to such questions today requires time and skilled resources.
And here’s the fun part: Since such insights are no longer difficult to get, but only one question away — people will start to ask more. What does that mean? People will gain more information and more insights. Or in other words, they will start to use business intelligence and analytics much more intensively. And subsequently, this will contribute to improved performance.
How Long Will It Take To Start Using Voice Assistants In The Area Of Business Intelligence And Analytics?
Now the question is when are the above stages turning from an idea into reality. This, of course, depends on the “level of sophistication.”
Simple questions, as described in stage one, aren’t a big thing, and this will be available pretty soon — probably within 12 months. And based on that, I’m convinced that stages two and three are realized within 3-5 years.
With our products, we’ve already started to explore this field and we will definitely keep you posted on the progress.
My Summary: There’s No Way Around Voice Assistants!
With voice assistants, you will change the way business intelligence and analytics are performance radically and sustainably. Compared to today’s possibilities getting information, details, and analysis will be much more comfortable — driven by efficiency and convenience.
What Do You Think?
Always happy to get your feedback and thoughts. Just hit me up on Twitter or get in touch on LinkedIn.
