Mark Smith's Analyst Perspectives

In today’s organization, the myriad of analytics and permutations of dashboards challenge workers’ ability to take contextual actions efficiently. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom for investing in analytics does not recognize the benefits of empowering the workforce to understand the situation, examine options and work together to make the best possible decision.

The market has evolved to focus on “decision intelligence,” using analytics in context to the relevant situation, providing information that is comprehensive in nature but presented in a manner that is easily understood. Technologically speaking, the need for unifying analytics and data in a single platform must be complemented by the ability to apply artificial intelligence and machine learning dynamically, augmenting with insights that deliver a variety of scenarios. My colleague David Menninger elaborated on the importance of this topic in his analyst perspective on decision intelligence.

Pyramid Analytics is a global provider of analytics-based software that focuses on decision intelligence. For over a decade, it has worked to align what is needed for the people in the organization, not just what is trendy in the market. After multiple rounds of financing and many versions of its technology, it has established itself through customer adoption as leading a new path. The software ensures data enablement by applying data preparation and science to deliver the flexibility needed, as outlined in this perspective. For these reasons, Ventana Research selected Pyramid Analytics as the 2022 Digital Innovation Winner for the analytics category.

While the advancement of augmented intelligence unified with AI/ML, analytics and business intelligence is important, as discussed in this perspective, how it is applied to a decision-making process is more important to ensure it can be used to increase the effectiveness of the organization and achieve the desired performance. Using technology for more effective decision-making is critical, yet many analytics applications have not been designed for the majority of business professionals but for analysts that have the science and skills to understand their meaning. As my colleague asserts, through 2025, one-third of organizations will realize they must scrap their use of analytics with dashboards and visualization due to an ineffective understanding of what actions or decisions are needed. Pyramid Analytics approaches decision intelligence by infusing other technology like AI and ML Operations to improve the science related to analytics, generating insights that can be used for decision-making.

In a software market like analytics where there are probably more than 50 vendors offering similar technology, differentiation in a more sophisticated manner like decision intelligence is essential for Pyramid Analytics. The company excels in its ability to operate not just across on-premises and cloud computing environments, but to capitalize on business data in applications like that from SAP. The opportunity for Pyramid Analytics is to deepen its focus on business and vertical industry templates and applications that can help it become even more relevant to customer needs.

Every organization benefits from the ability to increase precision in making decisions, orchestrating actions and encouraging collaboration. Managing performance in a more meaningful way is possible using decision intelligence and enables a path to better business performance and is part of becoming a modern digital business. The deluge of analytics via dashboards and reports may not be the most effective option for decision-making. Pyramid Analytics is leading the transition away from simply providing analytics by enabling value derived from analytics at every level of the organization. Those organizations who are looking to advance the effectiveness and process in decision-making should examine Pyramid Analytics for their business.