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Zoho just launched its newest update to Zoho Analytics. The platform continues to increase its user base with an estimated 17,000+ customers currently.

“Today we offer a very comprehensive business analytics platform,” explains Clarence Rozario, director of product management for Zoho Analytics.

But why does your business need this tool? 

Imagine seeing all the data your business collects in one place at the blink of an eye.

You already own this data, of course. You look at it daily scattered across countless dashboards: Facebook, Salesforce, Shopify, QuickBooks and more.

Small businesses need a way to blend all this data and create meaningful insights.

Otherwise, it remains fractured like pieces of a puzzle with no clear idea what the finished picture should be.

The Importance of Analytics in Business

Data analytics plays a critical role in business these days.

It tells us what products and services resonate with customers. It shows us which marketing plans are working – and which should be kicked to the curb.

It reveals trends about the money we’re making, the money we’re spending and what money brings in the best return.

Sometimes, it even allows us to peer into the future. It predicts where trends may lead and how to benefit from this knowledge.

Never doubt the importance of this data analytics to your business’s very survival.

Remember, your competitors already use this technology. Here are some stats:

An estimated 91.9% of businesses that invested in analytics in 2023 got measurable benefit.

What’s more, 3 in 5 of them used analytics that year to innovate in their business.

And 56% planned to increase their investment in analytics in 2024.

Read the writing on the wall. Without analytics to guide you and help you compete, your business could suffer.

Behind the Scenes with Zoho Analytics

Pull back the curtain and get a glimpse of what’s happening behind the scenes at Zoho Analytics.

The tool is broken down into three primary blocks, says Rozario.

First, take a look at the data preparation and management component of the software.

This component brings data from a variety of sources, say, a marketing platform like HubSpot, an email service like Mailchimp and an accounting program like Zero.

But wait! 

Remember these platforms collect very different kinds of data. Think of data from a marketing platform and data from an accounting platform as quite literally apples and oranges.

So blending this data together and coming up with useful insights to help you plot your business’s next move requires some help.

In the next step, Zoho Analytics helps cleanse this data, says Rozario. As a result, it creates high quality data more useful to businesses “downstream.”

Business Intelligence Self Serve

But after this process gets completed, we see the real magic happening.

Armed with data from all over your business, Zoho Analytics starts combining this information in weird and wonderful ways.

With a few clicks, you start asking questions. And like the Oracle of Delphi, Zoho Analytics responds. 

That response comes in the form of reports, dashboards, KPIs and metrics. Zoho Analytics’ Business Intelligence Self Service component helps business owners build these to analyze their data.

The service allows you to see this data in a whole new way. Powerful insights drawn from these reports fuel innovation and inspire pivots.

Integration BI in Your Application

Maybe you want to embed analytics in a custom app or website.

Zoho Analytics provides this option too.

For example, suppose you are creating a customization on your CRM platform. 

Certainly, with customer relationship management software you possess a unique opportunity. Collect huge amounts of data on your customers. This gives you a tremendous competitive advantage.

But to use that advantage well, you need a tool capable of collecting that data and slicing and dicing it to create reports and graphs.

You need a way to see all that data at a glance so those meaningful insights become easier for you and your team to spot.

Zoho Analytics makes it easier to import reports and dashboards into your customer application.

Now you possess both the data and the tools to make it meaningful.

Rozario says businesses and developers are already embedding Zoho Analytics into  their customer built websites and apps.

Don’t be left behind!

Meeting Data Challenges 

All of this sounds great! But what pain points exist in your business – or any business, for that matter – that analytics helps you solve?

It’s great to talk about analytics and business intelligence. But as a small business owner, you need to be pragmatic.

You need to justify every cost. So now we look at the challenges these tools help you meet.

Diverse Data at the Speed of Light

Remember the old saying. You don’t know what you don’t know.

But with your business, that lack of knowledge stands a good chance of putting you behind the competition.

Rozario points to a study suggesting the data collected by businesses doubles every year.

Does that make you nervous? It should!

If this happens in your business, your competitors must experience the same. But if they use the exponentially growing amount of data from their customers and you don’t, you won’t stay in business very long.

And the data your applications collect also grows in diversity. Rozario points out many small businesses use between 50 and 100 applications.

That represents a huge variety of different kinds of data. 

Pull those different kinds of data from marketing applications, accounting applications, CRM applications and more together. They likely contain insights to take your business to the next level.

But blending those different types of data together in a meaningful way seems daunting.

Herding Cats and Making Meaning

Corralling all this unstructured data reminds us of the expression about herding cats.

Cats often prove to be notoriously independent animals so the expression “like herding cats” denotes a very difficult task.

Data management and governance becomes another challenge small businesses face.

Collecting data proves to be just part of the task. Businesses need high quality data with which to build dashboards and reports.

Few insights arise from viewing data collected from 50 to 100 different apps and running the gamut from real time streams to semi-structured data to unstructured data.

Filling the Vortex Of Need

Not only that, but businesses expect more out of their data than ever before.

In short, this isn’t your father’s analytics!

Once you placated a marketing team with historical data. It showed how their campaigns performed last year. Maybe it showed how those campaigns performed year over year.

Today, your marketing manager demands to know why that great email campaign fell flat. 

He or she wants a glimpse at the future. What will grab customers’ attention in 2025? 

We want our next marketing campaign to be a smashing success. Tell us exactly what changes to make to ensure that happens.

Today’s analytics needs to fill all these needs and more. 

You face more than a disgruntled team if you fail to provide solutions.

You may end up closing your doors for good!

Keeping Things Versatile – but Simple

Everybody in your business wants something different from your analytics tool.

The financial officer wants to look at cost trends and compare them with return on investment. No one wants to pay for tools and strategies that don’t make money.

Meanwhile, the head of marketing wants to figure out what worked last year – and what might bring more brand awareness and eventually more sales in the year to come.

Finally, the HR person wants to figure out how to speed up recruiting and hiring and how to make onboarding more efficient.

Each of these people need different data that provides deep insight. But none want to get a data science degree to be able to use the company’s analytics platform to get it.

Keeping Up with the Times

Finally, no one needs software that’s out of date as soon as you deploy it.

People wait in line for the latest smartphone for a reason. But when you rely on data to keep your business afloat, the most up to date analytics platform becomes more than a fashion statement.

Technology moves at incredible speed. And, as we’ve seen, the amount of data needed to keep your business ahead of the curve grows exponentially.

This makes choosing your analytics platform – like choosing the rest of your technology – a considerable challenge.

Adding AI to the Analytics Mix

To meet these challenges, Zoho’s next generation of analytics software incorporates a smarter solution.

Zoho adds artificial intelligence to its latest self-serve business intelligence platform.

But the new AI integration proves to be much more than a trendy move at a time when the technology has created an enormous buzz.

Artificial intelligence imbues Zoho’s platform with new life and the ability to evolve with the needs of your business.

The tool’s most important feature turns out to be ease of use.

“Anyone can start analyzing data with our platform,” Rozario insists. 

“You do not have to be an IT person. You do not have to be a developer. You do not have to be a data scientist.” he adds.

The tag line for the newly released version says it all: “The Analytics Platform for All.”

More About the New Version of Zoho Analytics

So we know the new version of Zoho Analytics adds artificial intelligence to the mix.

And we know you need no special credentials, like an IT or data science degree to start gaining insights from the new platform.

But if you’re like many entrepreneurs and small business owners, you want specifics about what to expect with this new tool.

Look at what the new Zoho Analytics platform offers.

Meeting Around the Data Hub

Maybe you occupy the role of CEO at your business. You need to prepare a report for investors on key milestones met and surpassed. 

Maybe you work in the sales team and need to create marketing materials for clients. 

Maybe you act as financial manager and need to look at trends for next year’s budget.

In all cases, head over to the new Zoho Analytics’ powerful data hub. Here you find high quality data for reports, dashboards and more.

Accelerating Adoption

You know that coworker who constantly comes to you for help retrieving data?

We won’t say they’re afraid of technology. They just seem reluctant to learn the tools needed to gather the information they need to be more effective.

Well, Zoho Analytics makes the bold promise they will convert even these holdouts with new generative AI infused analytics.

The technology aims to make adoption easier for all your employees, regardless of technical background.

OK, This Gets a Little Technical

At the same time, Zoho ambitiously seeks to create a platform small businesses can customize for their needs.

Enter the new Zoho Analytics’ DSML Studio. DSML stands for Directory Services Markup Language. But don’t freak out! 

This bit simply gives you the option to bring in a developer – or a technically talented member of your team. Then use the DSML studio to customize Zoho’s analytics platform to suit your exact needs.

Stretching Zoho Analytics to Meet Your Needs

In the end, the features of the new platform allow adoption by just about anyone on your team.

But at the same time, it allows customization to stretch the platform. So you find great flexibility to create analytics tools you need to reach the top and stay there.

If You Already Have Analytics?

Maybe you think, wait a minute! Don’t my QuickBooks, Salesforce, Constant Contact and other third party software platforms collect their own data already? 

They all show this data to me on individual dashboards.

Why do I need to buy another software package to collect data all over again?

Ah. But these services all remain separate. They offer no way to blend their data together. So what you miss is the 360 degree view!

As Rozario explains, these platforms have their own limitations as to the depth they can offer.

Not only that, but he adds, “When you start using more applications, then the data that is coming from multiple applications has to be analyzed together.”

So How Do You Get Started?

Get ready for the great news. If you already subscribe to Zoho One or Zoho’s CRM or marketing bundles, you already have access to Zoho Analytics – including this new version.

But don’t worry! It is also sold as a separate service. To learn more, click here for the details. 

This article, “Zoho Analytics Blends Data For Epic Insights” was first published on Small Business Trends