Whether it’s planning and deploying a database migration, or creating a personalised, insightful, and automated reporting dashboard, BI consulting can bring a wide range of benefits to any enterprise.

In markets increasingly reliant on data-driven intelligence, these benefits are more valuable than ever before – being potentially responsible for your growth, competitive lead, and strategy.

It’s no secret that partnering with the right BI consultancy is important. With many consultancies to choose from, selecting one that can integrate alongside the environment and culture of your team can be essential in removing friction and encouraging the adoption of new processes.

At DataShapa, we prioritise a collaborative, communicative, and trusted approach to BI consulting that creates opportunities for long-term value-added project implementation. With our tried-and-tested methodology, this collaborative aspect is a central pillar of our service, and for good reason.

Below, we’re exploring four key benefits of partnering with a collaborative BI consultancy –identifying how this approach optimises problem-solving, working relationships, insights, and more.

Benefit #1: Fresh perspective on architecture and processes

When users work with the same processes, platforms, and environments daily, it can often be difficult to identify and act on the need to change.

There are several reasons for this – proficiency in traditional processes and an awareness of digital transformation risks are just two. However, these apprehensions shouldn’t restrict users and teams from accessing the most valuable information and insights possible.

When partnered with a collaborative BI consultancy, users will be listened to as they explain their current processes and will gain access to a fresh perspective when it comes to assessing current architecture.

Working closely with internal teams, BI consultancies can offer unique and experience-led insights on inherent architecture and processes, suggesting the best way to attain maximum value. This may be a full cloud migration, it may be the formation of a centralised database, or it may be a wide range of additional process changes.

Want to learn more? Read our blog on the advantages of an outsourced vs in-house solution.

Benefit #2: Help encourage a company-wide data-driven culture

The right collaborative BI consultancy will not only work with teams to better understand architecture and the flow of data. A truly collaborative agency listens to the experience of users and identifies their comfort level. They’ll also help uncover any resistance these users may have to changes and provide guidance on overcoming these.

This resistance may be due to fears over data security, demotivation due to a perceived steep learning curve, or a fear of being made redundant to name a few. Through collaborative, transparent, and value-led communication – and by explaining the benefit of new solutions – outsourced consultants can encourage a better data-driven culture.

With this culture firmly in place, enterprises can open the doors to greater interdepartmental communication, reducing the potential for harmful silos to occur, and protecting their BI investments through long-term use.

Learn more: How is a data-driven culture essential to optimising data analytics?

Benefit #3: Secure valuable buy-in on future BI projects that can optimise processes even further

We always operate with a value-first mentality, aiming to transform and implement solutions that grant tangible advantages to an enterprise. To do this, we must ensure great communication with core stakeholders throughout our involvement.

By directly communicating the value of solutions to stakeholders, we can earn their trust, and buy-in, for future projects designed to simplify workloads and add value to teams and users.

If our first project is a small proof of concept designed to illustrate the value of BI within a specific architecture, our next project may be a more experimental one designed to bring greater value with unique and tailored intelligence. It may be a full cloud migration for more flexible and cost-effective storage, or it may be the creation of a highly customised dashboard to support relevant teams with the data and insights they need.

Whatever the project, it will be easier to gain the buy-in from gatekeepers and stakeholders if they have previously understood and experienced the benefits that BI can bring.

Why not explore our guide on when to partner with a Business Intelligence consultancy?

Benefit #4: Enable streamlined problem-solving

Even with experienced Business Intelligence consultancies, unexpected challenges and new developments can arise from time to time.

When these challenges do arise, they can threaten to disrupt the implementation, practices, and adoption of BI tools in the future if stakeholders have a poor experience. Therefore, it’s essential to respond to any challenges and possible threats quickly and with confidence.

With a collaborative approach in place, consultancies and internal teams can work together to overcome unexpected challenges regardless of whatever form they take – which may range from investment issues to problems with architecture – rapidly and securely.

Committed to developing intelligent solutions

With a tried-and-tested methodology and extensive experience deploying innovative BI projects in a wide range of industries and infrastructures, we’re here to help. Our team of consultants can help support and integrate a wide range of offerings, from data storage to Machine Learning, to provide the most valuable and strategically aligned solutions possible.

Interested in learning more about how we can support your teams and users? Get in touch with us for a free discovery call.