Data Citizens Rejoice! - No Code Business Intelligence Is Here

Everyone wants access to data and data-driven culture, but this is a near herculean task with all the programs and solutions required to navigate data. The problem with data analytics in the modern world is that while we have raw data at our disposal, converting the data for insights takes specialized skills and coding knowledge due to the available tools. Enter data citizens and no-code business intelligence, putting the power of data into the hands of everyday users. 

Learn what a data citizen is, why organizations utilize data citizens, and why you should embrace no-code business intelligence.

What Is a Data Citizen?

A data citizen is an employee given access to an organization's proprietary information and uses big data tools and technology. 

The rise of data citizens evolved for organizations’ needs to adapt to manage the exponential amount of data available to process decision-making. To scale the use of data and have a data-driven organization, it is necessary to provide teammate access to tools and training to use the available data responsibly- considering data integrity and governance. 

Why Would an Organization Want Data Citizens?

Organizations need data citizens now more than ever. After all, we have more data than ever before.

By empowering data citizens with business intelligence tools, it is much easier for organizations to transform the way they make decisions at every level- relying on data to make informative data decisions. New tools have been developed to make data analysis much more efficient and accessible than ever before so it's much easier to involve data citizens in data exploration.

1. Make the most of their talent. 

Since most data analysis requires coding experience to unlock, store, process, transform data this burden has fallen on data scientists, engineers, analysts, and other specialized roles.

Instead of having every business intelligence need facilitated by highly specialized talent, organizations can involve data citizens. Anyone in an organization can access the data they need when they need it with meaningful context and get support from specialized talent for more significant contributions. 

2. Facilitate data-driven culture.

Many business leaders want to facilitate data culture and data literacy so decisions are made based on data no bias. However, building conventional data pipelines is a complicated process requiring expertise. These tools may ultimately achieve the desired dashboard but they do not facilitate data exploration. This role eliminates data and data literacy barriers by engaging more individuals in data exploration in their subject matter expertise.

3. Get additional context & enable data-driven decisions.

To having meaningful insights, you need to unlock data silos and explore data in meaningful context. Often there is a lack of trust in the outcome of data because those collecting data may not understand the full context of what is needed for it to be useful or understand the context behind the data if they are merely tasked to explore it for insights.

By utilizing data citizens, data teams become less disjointed and ineffective. Data is better understood in its context and procedures are naturally put in place to facilitate more meaningful data exploration starting from collection.  

What Is No-code Business Intelligence?

Often, when you were building a data pipeline to extract, transform, blend, and visualize data - it requires many different programs and expertise in coding to wrangle this data to be an appropriate format for analysis. Simply put no-code business intelligence breaks down any barrier to getting data and insights from an operations perspective because you can perform the function necessary for analysis without writing a line of code. At Toric this looks like a single data pipeline in which you can edit your dataflow directly instead of your code.

No-code business intelligence goes beyond polished dashboards.

Some readers may think that business intelligence platforms are simply analytical software stacks that provide high-level data on dashboards, you might picture end graphics and visualizations, all polished- but it's far more useful than that. Business intelligence has evolved beyond merely churning out numbers and visualizations.

New tools like no-code business intelligence enable users to shift to data-driven decision-making at any level by enabling accessible data streams.

This opens up a world of possibilities for those interested in data but do not have the expertise to or time to learn how to code to even access the data in the first place.

For example, you can extract data from 3D models and use them to explore the model with data or use the model to track other processes. See the data app below which showcases the Reinforced Concrete (RC) Installation Report.

This model is used in construction to augment Revit data in real-time using manual tables and filters. Data citizens can use data from sources such as Autodesk, and BIM software to create and use interactive data apps. Explore the dropdowns show the completion status of a reinforced concrete building project.

This is just one example of how data can be extracted and used in realtime. Explore the data app library to view more use cases.

‍Why Would You Want No-code Business Intelligence?

Simpler is better, especially when it works. By utilizing a no-code business intelligence tool, you open up a world of possibilities for data insights and data exploration. Here’s how Toric's no-code workspace can help:

1. You don’t have to rely on a data engineer to pull your data- You can do it yourself.

Conventional data pipelines require multiple solutions and custom coding to extract and clean data for insights. It’s a major hurdle for many organizations and with conventional data pipelines.  No code business intelligence simplifies connecting to data altogether and bypasses the need for additional data storage. 

With Toric, you have a few options on how to connect to your data.

Drop your CSVs, Excel Files, JSONs, and more directly into your dataflow. Get real-time updates to your data by using an integration or plugin. Currently, Toric offers integrations with Salesforce, QuickBooks, Autodesk, and more - see all integrations here.

2. Inspect your data and see the transformations and visualization effects immediately.

By removing multiple steps and tools, you can follow your data adjustments immediately. Even annotate your dataflow in areas you may need additional support or you are unsure of your work. Thus you can collaborate with your teams’ data experts much more accessible and get the insights you need fast.

3. Unlock data insights across a spectrum of data sources easily.

You may have heard of data blending or data enrichment. It’s the process of connecting to different data sets to explore data with richer context. The reinforced concrete report example showcased data blending from 3D models and BIM software to display a more accurate report.

4. You can utilize data analysts to help you build a library of reusable data flows and reports.

No one likes rework. With custom solutions, you must build systems to extract and process data every time you perform analysis. However, with this no-code business intelligence tool, all of your actions to connect and manipulate data are reusable. All you need to do is replace data sources or pull in the most up-to-date data from your integration and then boom- you have a reusable data flow and report. Simply tweak it for the needs of that particular project, and you are done. Use your talent to help build a library or reusable data app instead of building pipelines from scratch for each insight.

5. Less time spent figuring out programs- more time spent on insights.

Adding to a conventional data stack is laborious. Every step along the data stake requires research, buy-in, testing, and more. Additionally, these data stacks require additional labor for maintenance and quickly become outdated. By eliminating the need for a large data stack, your team can focus on what is most important, exploring data for actionable insights that propel your business forward.

Key Takeaways

Build your data culture using a no-code business intelligence tool, you open up data exploration to data citizens who use the data to inform their critical day to day decisions.

By enabling data citizens to focus on data analysis for everyday use, specialized talent is free to explore other possibilities to utilize data, and drive forward data culture.

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