How to get value out of your embedded analytics

Over the years, we’ve worked with a lot of software vendors who have embedded analytics into their product and there’s a range of reasons why they’ve chosen to do that. Some want to modernize existing analytics with a better solution, while others want to engage with more users or extend the use of their application to the C-Suite by delivering something of value to management like reporting. Others have customers who don’t have to the time to manually analyze data or are demanding better analytics.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to embed analytics, there are three things that I’d recommend you do to get the most value from it.

1. Create a competitive advantage

The biggest mistake most software vendors make when embedding analytics is not thinking about data strategically. They fail to take full advantage of the capabilities of the product they embed which means they don't deliver the best value to their customers. So when you think about embedding analytics into your software, think about how you're going to get a competitive advantage from it. 

If you create a competitive advantage by embedding analytics it can be a revenue stream that adds value to your business rather than a feature that you just give away. One way you can do this is by finding a great product that can help you create a vision and build what you really want for your customers.

2. Build content that's valuable to your customers

Content is king, so if you’re aiming to sell your analytic content then you need to build content that's valuable to your customers. Your analytics should help them do better transactions within your application. 

From a content perspective, your customers want insights into their business and one way you can do this is by building in benchmarks. Most SaaS products can give customers the ability to know how they compare to their peers using aggregated data. These benchmarks are super simple to deliver, highly valuable and can be built into your analytics from the get-go. You can then build those benchmarks around best practices. For example, if your organization is this size and doing this sort of business, then your ratio should be ABC and D. That is more valuable to your customer than just giving them a toolset and telling them to build their own reports.

Typically, you know your application far better than your customers so you can build reports and dashboards that are far more sophisticated than your customer. It’s important that you bring that depth of knowledge and best practices around your product and processes to your embedded analytics. This means you can effectively sell your experience and the best practices that you've developed over time.

3. Make analytics core to your business

Lastly, think of analytics as a core part of your business. You need to invest in a proper analytical function and people who can add data science and operationalize your data. By building a data-centric team that manages this product you can deliver the very best value to your customers.

Analytics can be the most valuable part of your product because it can help your customers manage their business better. If you’re not using embedded analytics effectively to add value to your customers then you’re leaving money on the table.