THE FUTURE OF

REPORTING
RESEARCH STUDY

Authors This study was prepared by BARC, an independent

Larissa Baier market analysis firm. It is available free of charge
Robert Tischler thanks to the generosity of BOARD, IBM, SAP,
Tableau and Zoho.
 MODERNIZING ENTERPRISE REPORTING TO MEET
CHANGING NEEDS

Recent years have seen extensive interest in Technological innovations and their increas- existing solutions. The mix of these and fur-
topics around explorative BI such as advanced ing proliferation are shaping enterprise re- ther developments creates attractive archi-
and predictive analytics. Modernizing and op- porting and BI. Most prominently, machine tecture options and significantly extends the
timizing enterprise reporting – or classical BI learning (ML) enables improvements in var- reach of reporting and BI beyond the borders
– has not been a similar priority for many of to- ious fields. It allows new forms of consump- of internal deployments.
day’s organizations, even though it constitutes tion and interaction with BI content through
the backbone of information supply for de- natural language queries (NLQ) run through Modernizing and optimizing enterprise re-
cision support. It is an increasing challenge for chat-bots and other conversational interfaces porting applications to support shifting and
organizations to deliver high quality yet more on any device. ML allows non-statisticians to increasing demands is vital to continuous-
flexible reporting solutions and applications in leverage advanced and predictive analytics ly deliver trusted information for decision
less time. to detect hidden patterns and correlations in support in rapidly changing environments. This
data, increasing the depth of analyses conduct- study investigates current and future challeng-
Many reporting systems today are failing to ed. Natural language generation (NLG), again es with information delivery and how organiza-
provide adequate support to users while much powered by ML, supports users in understand- tions plan to improve their enterprise report-
of the content created is unused or lacks rel- ing patterns and explains causing factors. ML ing to gain benefits from their data treasures.
evance to the most important business ques- helps users prepare data to enhance reports
tions. Building and maintaining traditional and to select appropriate visualizations in Larissa Baier & Robert Tischler
solutions is expensive and fails to satisfy users visual analysis and dashboards. Cloud, with Würzburg, Germany, June 2019.
in many cases. Today’s data-literate users containerization, APIs, microservices and mo-
want governed and scalable self-service BI bile have been hot topics in BI for some time
functions to answer critical business questions now. Their elevated level of maturity makes
and to get the most out of their data assets. them attractive for an increasing number of
CONTENTS

Management summary.................................................................................................................................................4

01 Flexibility in information usage and personalization are the key.................................................9

02 Modern reporting tools must focus on business users....................................................................15

03 Fact-based decision-making requires trusted and managed data............................................18

04 Inspiring action from data is the holy grail of reporting and BI..................................................20

05 There is a lot to gain from closing the enterprise reporting satisfaction gap.....................23

Demographics...................................................................................................................................................................24

Appendix: all results......................................................................................................................................................26

BARC company profile.................................................................................................................................................36

Sponsor profiles..............................................................................................................................................................37

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 3

 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

Only a minority of companies say they have a

01 FLEXIBILITY IN INFORMATION USAGE AND PERSONALIZA-
modern reporting landscape and regularly
TION ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF REPORTING
base decisions on data. In fact, most companies
struggle with data-related problems, organiza-
tional issues or outdated BI and analytics infra- Although a common data model consisting of aligned structures and measures is needed for consist-
structures which ignore more recent usage ency and governance, it will not grant business departments the freedom required to efficiently analyze
scenarios such as explorative analytics on big and interpret data. Architectures and modern tools which enable business users to search, prepare and
data sources. These problems become even more analyze data will pave the way to reacting promptly to market changes. Business users who consume
obvious when contrasted with modern infrastruc- pre-defined content require greater flexibility in data navigation as well as personalized content distrib-
tures built in the cloud and micro services as uted over a vast number of different channels.
well as the challenges caused by exploding data
volume and variety.
02 MODERN REPORTING TOOLS MUST FOCUS ON
Finally, the highest pressure evolves from compe- BUSINESS USERS
tition. Companies must react quicker than ever
to changing demands from their customers to Business users will be the major creators of reports and content in the future. They require intuitive and
keep pace with their competition. The time has modern tools which can support them in data analysis and report creation tasks. Technologies to increase
come to modernize today’s reporting landscapes automation and efficiency such as machine learning help users to speed up their work. Increasing reuse
and base decisions on information rather than of content powered by device-agnostic creation prevents report explosion even in large and decentralized
gut-feeling – the legacy of the past must be over- environments.
come to reach the future of reporting.

The BARC survey ‘The Future of Reporting’ is based

on a survey of over 600 participants worldwide
from 58 countries across a range of industries.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 4

 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

03 FACT-BASED DECISION-MAKING REQUIRES TRUSTED AND

MANAGED DATA

Data management has always been a challenge for companies. The most prominent challenge is to
overcome multiple and conflicting definitions for KPIs which is typically addressed with rigid and strongly
centralized control. Data quality is seldomly handled in source systems in a way that meets the needs of
decision support. As the number of sources, volume and variety of data increase, data-related issues are
felt more strongly. Therefore, state-of-the-art and future-proof architecture concepts and tools are needed
to deal with these challenges.

04 INSPIRING ACTION FROM DATA IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF

REPORTING AND BI

Managers are a key element in establishing data-based decision-making as the new norm in their organ-
izations. All employees need appropriately prepared information that is easy to retrieve and to grasp.
Especially laggards must catch up on regularly supplying their management and operational staff with
relevant information.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 5

 ACTION ITEMS

Gleaned from BARC’s experience in the market

01 IMPROVE CUSTOMER ORIENTATION THROUGH MODERN
and results from this survey – based on end user
TECHNOLOGY
feedback – we offer you recommendations to
improve your enterprise reporting and BI to the Improving customer orientation is a mantra for many companies. The customers of enterprise reporting
next level. and BI are its consumer. Therefore, consumer orientation is the single most effective lever you have, to
improve the benefits gained from BI.

Implement modern tools with intuitive interfaces to simplify content consumption and creation,
allowing more employees to analyze data for relevant patterns and trends to inform their decisions. Make
sure content is easy to understand and retrieve for everyone, make sure it can be consumed anywhere.

Mobile BI apps are supported by most BI tools, yet they are not used pervasively. This will and must
change. With this, we will see a shift in consumer expectations towards more interactive yet guided apps
available everywhere.

Natural language search and queries make BI easy to retrieve and accessible to everyone. The combination
of NLQ and mobile BI is even more powerful and opens new ways of interaction. Deploy NLQ and mobile BI
to equip every employee with actionable insights everywhere.

Easier access and consumption lead to higher information use. Higher use leads to greater benefits and
greater benefits lead to higher use.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 6

 ACTION ITEMS

02 MODERNIZE DATA MANAGEMENT TO GUARANTEE HIGH

DATA QUALITY
The increasing number of sources to integrate as well as growing volume and variety are the top chal-
lenge for enterprise reporting today and will continue to grow in the future. Modernize your data
management to cope with this challenge and to address insufficient data quality in source systems as
well as rising expectations from business users. Applying state-of-the-art technology and processes to
ingest, integrate and distribute data is the approach pursued by most companies today to stay ahead of
increasing requirements.

It is crucial to simplify data consumption and access for all users to support self-service requirements.
Maintain a comprehensive data catalog to make data treasures easy to find. Linking data to business
metadata is crucial for data governance. Leverage the power of the user community and collaboration to
describe data assets and comment on the data’s use and usefulness.

03 HELP ALL EMPLOYEES TO LEVEL-UP THEIR DATA SKILLS

AND TO COLLABORATE

There is a lot to gain from reporting and BI if all business users can use data to inform their decisions.
Educate and support business users to increase their data literacy and equip them with increasingly valu-
able skills.

Educate your IT and BICC so they can fully occupy their new roles in governed self-service environments.
Their focus will shift from development-oriented tasks to consulting and supporting business users, from
building reports to curating data.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 7

 ACTION ITEMS

04 DEPLOY SELF-SERVICE AND ACCOMPANYING GOVERNANCE

MEASURES
Leaders trust in the advantages of self-service BI. They already offer self-service capabilities like ad hoc
analyses and reports more often than others. Nevertheless, their number one initiative to enhance their
enterprise reporting is deploying self-service capabilities to more users. The same should be true for your
future reporting and BI landscape.

Governed self-service BI is the key to gleaning relevant and timely insights from data– connected and
integrated. Only pervasive standards guarantee a stable foundation for collaboration and content reuse,
making BI efficient and more effective.

Decentralize content creation to support data-driven decision-making in every corner of your organi-
zation. Emphasize data governance measures and deploy tools that support decentralized BI built on a
stable foundation.

05 MANAGEMENT MUST PROMOTE DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS

If more decisions are based on data, the importance of managers paradoxically grows. It is the managers
who must demonstrate every day that facts trump opinions – even if it is their own opinion.

Managers must be aware of their duty to open the space for discussions based on data to inform deci-
sions. This will include more employees in decision-making and will ultimate lead to better decisions – for
the benefit of the whole organization.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 8

01 FLEXIBILITY AND PERSONALIZATION
ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF REPORTING

INFORMATION DELIVERY MUST BE USER-ORIENTED AND FLEXIBLE

companies must define a suitable mix of both. Recent innovations have sped up the chain of
Information delivery Consistent data structures are vital in both worlds, information processing and presentation, making
31% critical reports should be part of the centralized enterprise reporting cheaper and more valuable.
Personalization of content and notifications and governed area, but beyond that there must At the same time, they have introduced new ways
29% be more freedom for business departments to to increase the flexibility to support business
run their own analyses. More than ever, high flex- users in quickly answering their questions in a
Flexibility to answer new questions
29% ibility is crucial for organizations to catch up with self-reliant manner. Business analysts need easy-
the pressure arising from the environment they to-use tools to quickly provide reliable and under-
Cost and effort of implementation and operation
compete in. Additionally, they must react quicker standable information for decision support with
26%
than ever to changes in customer behavior and the goal of taking the right action in less time. Ad
deal with the data-related issues described below. hoc reporting and analysis are evergreens in BI,
Top 4 most dissatisfying issues in reporting today (n=601) but the large-scale application of artificial intelli-
Besides fixing data management challenges, busi- gence and machine learning speeds up analysis
Centralized data management and reporting envi- ness departments must be able to access and and content creation.
ronments are typically used to gain tighter control work with all data easily and quickly. To deliver
and governance over companies’ information on new requirements in time, it’s vital to have
treasures. The downside of this concept however data-literate employees equipped with tools that
is the lack of agility for business departments
which have distinct reporting needs. Therefore,
facilitate analysis and content creation such as
reports and dashboards. If not done right, report
60%
many highly centralized deployments struggle and dashboard creation involves numerous tools
and experts, is tedious and prevents information of participants say that tools need
with shadow BI systems spawning in different
areas followed by a loss of control over govern- from being distributed in a timely manner. to be easy to use for content
ance and consistency. To overcome the downsides creators.
of centralized and decentralized approaches,

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 9

01 FLEXIBILITY AND PERSONALIZATION
ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF REPORTING

LEADERS INVEST IN SELF-SERVICE BI FOR DECENTRALIZED CONTENT CREATION

A close look at initiatives run by leaders1, compared
Given self-service capabilities to 25% 46%
to laggards2 shows the right actions to take to
more users improve your reporting. Leaders invest strongly
38% 40%
Implemented new front-end tools in both data management and front-end related
40% 41% topics. Their top priority addresses one of the
Modernized underlying data
management issues with the lowest satisfaction, namely to offer
29% 33% increased flexibility to answer specific business
Provided reports for new data
sources questions to more users by providing self-service
21% 29% BI.
Harmonized and standardized
front-end tools
23% 27% Contrary to the trend of increasing the number of
Reduced number of reports
maintained BI front ends deployed, experts expect fewer chal-
17% 26%
Enhanced content with lenges from information spread across multiple
visualizations and responsive design front-end tools in the foreseeable future. The key
17% 26%
Established an iterative BI is to get data governance and data management
development process
right to publish consistent data to the right tool for
18% 24%
Implemented new concept for every use case. Other tool-related challenges will
corporate reporting
also decrease in the future – following a steady
3% 14%
Restricted self-service capabilities to trend in a maturing market.
selected users
7% 21%
No significant initiatives have been
carried out
1 Companies that are better in their enterprise reporting than
Laggards Leaders
their competitors.
2 Companies that are worse at enterprise reporting than their
Which approaches has your organization pursued to enhance its reporting in the last 24 months? Per leaders/laggards (n=185) competitors.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 10

01 FLEXIBILITY AND PERSONALIZATION
ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF REPORTING

IT AND BICC BECOME INTERNAL CONSULTANTS IN SELF-SERVICE BI

Laggards know that they must increase their
Decrease Increase
efforts. They plan to invest more in self-service
Business users will build BI and optimize their environments by harmo-
6% 63%
reports/dashboards for their teams
nizing front ends, reducing the number of reports
IT and BICC will build pipelines to to maintain – a clear challenge considering the
4% 57%
new data sources and curate data
request for highly personalized content delivery,
Heavier reliance on automation to
6% 52% but necessary to build enterprise-wide platforms.
support repetitive/mundane tasks
Business users will prepare data for Modernizing and decentralizing enterprise
9% 51%
analyses based on governed sources
reporting is not solely a question of tools and tech-
IT and BICC will promote analytics nology. Accompanying organizational changes are
7% 51%
and BI skills and data literacy
vital to ensure success.
IT and BICC will train and support
9% 47%
business users
Decentralizing requires business users to self-re-
IT and business users will jointly set liantly build content for their peers. They must be
6% 46%
standards for information use supported properly and equipped with well-struc-
Reports will be certified as having tured data and straightforward tools. They are
5% 43%
trusted and vetted sources also at the center of building communities of prac-
Business users will describe, rate and tice to share knowledge and to collaborate vividly.
11% 40%
search data assets in data catalogs
IT and BICC will build Laggards are aware that they must broaden the
reports/dashboards for critical 16% 35%
scope of functions available for business users.
applications
They say that business users will increasingly
prepare data to find answers to their own chal-
How will your BI organization and processes change in the foreseeable future? (n=575)
lenges.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 11

01 FLEXIBILITY AND PERSONALIZATION
ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF REPORTING

SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE REPORTING REQUIRES CONSUMER-ORIENTED DISTRIBUTION

The future role of the BICC is expected to change
50% 56% from building content to providing data and
Content pull, access by users supporting business users working with self-ser-
55% 55% vice tools. Certifying reports after rigorous vetting
Ad hoc reports and analyses and testing and cataloging data assets are impor-
21% 46%
tant approaches to governing decentralized BI.
Printed standard reports & dashboards
35% 45%
Standardized content scheduled via Users are drowning in reports but starved of rele-
email/file system
37% 45% vant insights. Critical information reaches recip-
BI functionality integrated in enterprise
portals ients too late or gets overlooked in the sheer
31% 65% amount of notifications. New, interactive ways of
Mobile reports, dashboards &
applications visualizing and presenting information increase
25% 34%
BI functionality embedded in other the usage and benefits of reporting and BI.
solutions 16% 23%
Big (TV) screen There will always be a need for highly optimized
14% 38% and purpose-built content – be it on paper, on
Data stories & interactive presentations screen or any other device. Interactivity is impor-
7% 25%
tant but not always required. When presented
Large touch screen for collaboration
4% 22% wrongly, it will prevent smooth and easy usage.
Smart devices

Today In the future

What are the most important distribution channels and reporting types in your company today and in the future? (n=603/602)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 12

01 FLEXIBILITY AND PERSONALIZATION
ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF REPORTING

LEADERS OFFER MORE CHOICE AND MORE INTERACTIVITY TO USERS

Ad hoc reports and analyses for quick answers

62% On average, leaders have
Content pull, access by users

4
57% distribution channels
BI functionality integrated in enterprise portals
51%
in use today.
Standardized content scheduled via email/file system
44%
Mobile reports, dashboards and applications
43%

Leaders: Top 5 distribution channels today (n=90)

The vision of content distribution for leaders channels is highly important for the success of
and laggards is rather similar, but leaders are enterprise reporting. Mobile access will play
already quite close to what’s pursued. Printed an increasingly important role in that area.
Mobile devices will become reporting will become much less important
the premier channel to while mobile devices will become the premier Leaders take a distinct approach to delivering
consume analytics and BI channel to consume analytics and BI content. information to end users: They offer more distri-
bution channels than laggards to satisfy the needs
content
Mobile front ends are deemed relevant by of all user groups, each with their particular
most participants, but their usage is still rela- requirements.
tively minor. Offering tailor-made distribution

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 13

01 FLEXIBILITY AND PERSONALIZATION
ARE THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF REPORTING

LAGGARDS MUST FAVOR FLEXIBILITY FOR AD-HOC USE OVER STATIC CONTENT

Printed standard reports and dashboards

61% On average, laggards have
Content pull, access by users

3
48% distribution channels
Ad hoc reports and analyses for quick answers
45%
in use today.
Standardized content scheduled via email/file system
41%
BI functionality integrated in enterprise portals
33%

Laggards: Top 5 distribution channels today (n=95)

Besides stronger provision of ad hoc reporting Laggards still rely heavily on pushing static infor-
and analysis capabilities, leaders put greater mation to users. While offering fewer distribution
emphasis on embedding BI functionality in opera-
tional systems to support users with information
channels to choose from than leaders, printing
is the only distribution channel used more
61%
in business processes. frequently.
of laggards rely on printing reports.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 14

02 MODERN REPORTING TOOLS MUST
FOCUS ON BUSINESS USERS

MODERN TOOLS ARE VITAL TO ENHANCE USABILITY FOR REPORT CREATORS AND CON-
SUMERS
ML is on the wish list of many organizations but,
despite its potential, it is still only used by a few.
Laggards Leaders Laggards Leaders
The future use of natural language generation
and queries is hard to predict. The technology has
Unsatisfactory 12% 43% 26% 48% huge potential for shifting the perception of inter-
usability for report BI system
in the cloud action with reporting and BI, but many respond-
creators/consumers
ents say that it is not relevant to them.
10% 58% APIs & micro services 9% 43%
Current tools lack
to embed BI in
required functionality
3rd-party solutions
On average, companies have

What are the most important challenges for your enterprise Which of the following technology trends do you use or plan distribution

3.4
reporting environment today? Per leaders/laggards (n=185) to use within your reporting landscape? Per leaders/laggards
(n=173) channels in use
Tackling the challenges of enterprise reporting intuitive and code-free environments to speed
today and
and efficiently offering suitable content distri- up report creation and analysis. Modern tools
bution requires innovative technology. The mo- incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine
dernization of reporting landscapes includes the learning (ML) functionality to simplify analytics distribution

4.1
use of up-to-date front-end tools which help busi- tasks such as data preparation, analysis and
ness users to find insights in a self-reliant manner. report creation. ML can help query data through channels planned
natural language queries, suggest possible steps
in the future
Besides the ongoing demand for fast response when preparing data and analyses or detect
times and performance, business users require hidden patterns.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 15

02 MODERN REPORTING TOOLS MUST
FOCUS ON BUSINESS USERS

HARMONIZATION IS PLANNED BUT NEW TOOLS ARE IMPLEMENTED

Tools must be easy to use

Implemented Planned Implemented Planned
for content creators
60%
26% 38% Harmonized and 27% 39%
Implemented new Analysis of underlying data needs
standardized
front-end tools to be easily achievable
front-end tools
54%

Which approaches has your organization pursued to enhance Which approaches has your organization pursued to enhance What must be achieved in order to enhance the support of
its reporting? Implemented vs. planned (n=599/599) its reporting? Implemented vs. planned (n=599/599) decisions and decision-makers? (n=603)

As the number and variety of distribution channels Information use is more prevalent in the opera- information and recommended actions comple-
for information is increasing, business analysts tional parts of businesses. Rising demand for ment the features of the source system. Through
must be empowered to create content once and mobile BI and embedded BI indicates that organi- embedding, BI is able to support employees in all
share and reuse it across different channels. zations are increasingly adopting and using infor- departments. BI on mobile devices, large screens
Reusability of visualizations and reports is vital for mation throughout their value chains. and TVs can be used to display information rele-
preventing report explosion in the future. vant to core processes such as production.
Extended use of reports and information implies
their provision on all sorts of devices, leveraging all Leaders emphasize incorporating analytical infor-
Leaders often implement available technologies to provide suitable distribu- mation into all systems to reach and support more
tion channels for more and more users. BI content employees. Embedded BI paves the way to reach
new front ends to support
must be embedded directly in source systems to operational staff with information and facilitate
flexibility inform decisions in operational scenarios beyond data-based decision-making around the organiza-
the information held in a single system. Analytical tion.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 16

02 MODERN REPORTING TOOLS MUST
FOCUS ON BUSINESS USERS

MOBILE BI WILL BE THE NEW NORM FOR CONSUMING BI CONTENT

Mobile is seen as one of the most important
BI system in the cloud 32% 32% 64% distribution channels. Many organizations plan
to implement new mobile frontends or improve
publishing to mobile devices. Futureproof tools
APIs and micro services to embed BI
18% 32% 50% must therefore provide capabilities to create
in 3rd-party solutions
content and easily adapt and deploy it to any
New mobile front ends/mobile target environment.
17% 53% 70%
delivery of existing content
Customers increasingly consider cloud as the
NLQ, BI bots, conversational 10 26% 36% way forward to provide flexibility in enterprise
interfaces or search-based BI
reporting as it requires less support from IT. Cloud
is used by nearly 50% of leaders or organizations
ML for automated pattern and outlier 10 39% 49%
detection from North America. Most new implementations
in this region leverage the cloud in some form.

ML for user guidance and assistance 8 34% 42%

NLG to automatically comment on

reports and data stories
8 27% 35%
48%
In use Planned
of leaders benefit from BI in the
cloud.
Which of the following technology trends do you use or plan to use within your reporting landscape? (n=559)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 17

03 FACT-BASED DECISION-MAKING
REQUIRES TRUSTED AND MANAGED DATA
GROWING NUMBER OF SOURCES WITH DUBIOUS DATA QUALITY PUT STRAIN ON DATA
MANAGEMENT
Data must be the foundation of decision-making
and is therefore the most critical aspect of every
Increase in data sources and data volumes
company’s reporting landscape. With increasing
51%
pressure on data management caused by a
Bad data quality in source systems growing number of data sources, the volumes
48%
and variety of data must be managed through
Lack of skilled reporting personnel state-of-the-art concepts.
47%

Information is spread across multiple front-end tools Organizations invest in modernizing their data
44% management to cope with the increasing number
of sources. Harmonizing and cleansing data from
Reacting promptly to changing demands within the business
42% a plethora of sources to reach the desired level of
data quality causes strain on data management.
Providing correct and relevant data for reporting
What are the most important challenges for your enterprise reporting environment today? Top 5 answers (n=603) is an often-unsolved issue and remains a problem
for many organizations.

When comparing leaders and laggards, leaders Data management is the foundation of every
experience few problems with the tools they use. reporting and BI solution. Diverse needs require
However, front-end tools are causing a lot of user Data is the most critical specialized tools and concepts. A very important
dissatisfaction in laggard companies. Therefore, aspect of every company’s concept to provide a sustainable foundation is a
it is crucial to be equipped with the right tools to central store of trusted data with shared meta-
reporting landscape
enhance reporting and gain advantages in busi- data and business rules where one can find the
ness. right data quickly.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 18

03 FACT-BASED DECISION-MAKING
REQUIRES TRUSTED AND MANAGED DATA

MODERN DATA MANAGEMENT CREATES A SOUND BASIS FOR DECISION SUPPORT

Modernized underlying data management

41%
Natural language search,
Provided self-service capabilities to more users
41% cataloging and extensible
Purchased and implemented new front-end tools
semantic models will
38% become vital in the future
Provided reports for new data sources
36%
Reduced number of reports maintained
30%

Which approaches has your organization pursued to enhance its reporting in the last 24 months? Top 5 answers (n=599)

Another growing challenge related to the rising Companies also struggle to complement trusted
amount of data sources is finding and using data with new data sources needed for ad hoc
relevant information, ideally via a business user analyses. Concepts for both centralized and
friendly interface. Therefore, technologies support decentralized work with data must mature to
customers in these tasks and offering functions provide organizations with the required level of
for search, cataloging and semantics-building will flexibility in data management and usage.
become more and more important in the future.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 19

04 INSPIRING ACTION FROM DATA IS
THE HOLY GRAIL OF REPORTING AND BI

INFORMATION SUPPLY FOR MANAGERS IS DECENT BUT MUST BE IMPROVED

Top management 1% 11% 54% 35% Laggards Leaders

Top 19% 68%

Middle management 1% 11% 65% 23%
management
Middle 7% 61%
Junior management 4% 25% 55% 16%
management
Non-management employees 11% 37% 41% 11% Junior 3% 46%
management
Never Hardly ever Mostly Always
Non-management 2% 34%
To what extent are decision-makers effectively supported by enterprise reporting? (n=603) employees

A large portion of companies today fail to deliver based on solid evidence from data but rather on To what extent are decision-makers effectively supported by
gut-feeling. Companies that fail to act based on enterprise reporting? Per leaders/laggards and by “always”
value add for decision-making and process opti-
(n=185)
mization through their enterprise reporting. They evidence given, will fail to address the customers
are groping in the dark and so is their manage- most likely to buy their products or will have diffi-
ment – drowning in data but starved of informa- culties optimizing their production processes.
tion. This will deteriorate their position in the market.
Acting based on data is imperative in competitive
Leaders are 3.5x more likely to
Top and middle management are supported well markets and in a complex world. Claims about the always support their top managers
with information in most companies. But laggards usefulness and benefits of enterprise reporting
to support decision-making vary significantly with data for decision-making.
fail to properly support management with data.
Decisions in these organizations are rarely ever between leaders and laggards.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 20

04 INSPIRING ACTION FROM DATA IS
THE HOLY GRAIL OF REPORTING AND BI

MANAGERS MUST VALUE DATA FOR DECISIONS OVER THEIR OWN OPINION
There is a gap between these groups when
comparing who is always supplied with informa-
Management must encourage data-driven decision-making
tion properly. With a factor above 10x, the gap is
68%
wide for middle and junior managers as well as
Content must be easy to retrieve and understand
64% non-management employees who need to be
supported in operational decision-making. The
Reports/dashboards must be relevant/complete
64% latter group of employees in particular needs
Tools must be easy to use for content creators information to actively take part in organizational
60% development by contributing new ideas and
Analysis of underlying data needs to be easily achievable needed actions based on their front-line experi-
54% ence with customers, suppliers and other busi-
Quick delivery of data from source to report to users ness partners.
52%
Enterprise reporting needs to be trusted Providing managers and operational staff with
49% information will impact decision-making but
Data must be presented in the right format needs additional initiatives to encourage fact-
41% based decision-making at all levels and actions
Content needs to be personalized based on insights gleaned from reporting.
40%
Automated rule-based decisions based on data Organizations agree that management support
27% is a key element for a better information culture.
Improvements in tools, organizational structures
What must be achieved in order to enhance the support of decisions and decision-makers? (n=603) and data management will boost the moderniza-
tion of reporting.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 21

04 INSPIRING ACTION FROM DATA IS
THE HOLY GRAIL OF REPORTING AND BI

CONCRETE ACTIONS DERIVED FROM REPORTING WILL LIFT ITS POTENTIAL

However, it requires managers to ignite changes
TOP 3 APPROACHES TOP 3 APPROACHES and show willingness to value facts for deci-
sion-making over their own opinion. Therefore,
OF LEADERS OF LAGGARDS
they have the responsibility to base their deci-
sions on reliable and relevant data. They need to
be supplied with a trusted, relevant and complete
MANAGERS MUST view of their business problems because good
REPORTS MUST
1 PROMOTE DATA-
DRIVEN DECISION-
1 BE RELEVANT
decisions must be fact-based. The information
supply must be complemented by a decision and
MAKING action culture within a company. Passive use of
reports and dashboards will not lead to needed
improvements or benefits for the company.
Concrete action items derived from reported
CONTENT DISTRIBUTED shortcomings will lift BI to the level of its potential.
2 2
TOOLS NEED TO BE
MUST BE EASY
EASY TO USE
TO UNDERSTAND Leaders and laggards face different challenges
when it comes to using data for decision-making.
Laggards must make reports more pervasive, rele-
vant and complete. Content must be delivered on
time and be easy to consume and understand.
CONTENT DISTRIBUTED

3
TOOLS NEED TO BE Leaders are a step ahead. They say managers
3 MUST BE EASY
TO UNDERSTAND
EASY TO USE must promote data-driven decision-making by
employing it themselves and valuing the evidence-
based contributions of others when considering
their actions.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 22

 THERE’S A LOT TO GAIN
FROM CLOSING THE ENTERPRISE
REPORTING SATISFACTION GAP

fied, as the number and variety of data sources

Greater user satisfaction / more satisfied users and the volume of data increases. IT and business
57% users alike struggle with complex data structures.
Quicker insights for users The latter are searching for the data sources they
45%
need and more intuitive, user-friendly ways to
More active users access and analyze the data.
42%
Increased efficiency in decision-making
The modernization effort pays off: Organiza-
35%
tions that invest in modernizing their enterprise
Increased efficiency in implementation/operation
34% reporting can reap significant benefits. Modern-
Quicker delivery of changes izing solutions enhances the outcome derived
24% from enterprise reporting: Better support for deci-
Lower costs through process optimization sions, reacting to changes faster, delivering rele-
21% vant insights and cost efficiency.
Improved competitiveness via better decisions
19% Almost all initiatives conducted have yielded
Decision automation based on enterprise reporting results results: Providing more flexibility and self-service
14% generates a greater number of active users and
No benefits gained higher levels of user satisfaction. Quicker insights
5%
and better efficiency in decision-making are direct
results of optimizing the front and back ends.
Which benefits and improvements have you gained through the approaches your organization has pursued to enhance its reporting? More employees use data to inform decisions in
(n=555)
successful companies than in other. These leaders
In many companies, enterprise reporting and BI major challenges with data management, data run more modernization initiatives than laggards.
is based on outdated and scattered architectures quality and governance. Painful issues in data As a result, the level of benefits reported by
grown over years. Customers regularly report management and reporting are becoming ampli- leaders top those reported by laggards.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 23

 DEMOGRAPHICS

WIDE RANGE OF INDUSTRIES AND COM- POSITION COMPANY SIZE

PANY SIZES

The online survey was carried out in March and Less than 500
April 2019. It was publicized via websites, events Manager in BI organization 36%
and BARC’s email newsletter with more than 600 18%
500 - 4,999
participants from a wide range of company sizes Developer in IT or BICC
17% 35%
and industries taking part.
Power user in a business department/ More than 5,000
business analyst
INDUSTRY 29%
16%
Manager in business unit
Industry 13% How many employees does your company have? (n=603)
22%
Manager in IT department
Services
11%
20% REGION
CEO
Public sector 7%
18% Europe
External consultant
IT 70%
7%
16% North America
Data scientist
Banking and finance 21%
5%
11% Asia and Pacific
Retail/wholesale/trade Data engineer in a business department
5%
3%
11% South America
Other Casual user in a business department 2%
1% 3% Rest of the world
1%
Which of the following best describes your organization’s
industry sector? (n=603) What position do you hold in your company? (n=603) In which country are you located? (n=603)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 24

LEADERS AND LAGGARDS

Much better

16%
We divided the sample into “leaders” and
“laggards” in order to identify differences in
Slightly better
terms of distribution channels, approaches
32% and challenges in reporting. This division was
made based on the question “How good is your
Similar company’s enterprise reporting compared
to your competitors?”. Companies that are
34%
much better in their enterprise reporting than
their competitors are referred to as “leaders”
Slightly worse (12 percent) while those who are slightly or
13% much worse at enterprise reporting than
their competitors are classed as “laggards” (20
percent).
Much worse

5%

How good is your company’s enterprise reporting compared to your competitors? (n=546)

Lorem Ipsum Titel – © BARC 2019 25

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

Relevance to decision-making 2% 13% 50% 17%

Information presentation 4% 16% 44% 18%

Quality and transparency of results 4 17% 45% 16%

Timely availability of reports 4 17% 39% 21%

Performance of queries and reports 2% 18% 43% 17%

Scope of information distributed 3% 13% 44% 11%

Flexibility to answer new questions 6% 23% 31% 15%

Personalization of content and

notifications 6% 23% 31% 14%

Cost and effort of implementation

6% 19% 32% 13%
and operation

Information delivery 8% 23% 29% 10%

Very Slightly Rather Very

dissatisfied dissatisfied satisfied satisfied

How satisfied are you with the following aspects of your enterprise reporting? (n=601)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 26

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

Top management 1% 11% 54% 35%

Middle management 1% 11% 65% 23%

Junior management 4% 25% 55% 16%

Non-management employees 11% 37% 41% 11%

Never Hardly ever Mostly Always

To what extent are decision-makers effectively supported by enterprise reporting? (n=588)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 27

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

Management must encourage data-driven decision-making

68%
Content must be easy to retrieve and understand
64%
Reports/dashboards must be relevant/complete
64%
Tools must be easy to use for content creators
60%
Analysis of underlying data needs to be easily achievable
54%
Quick delivery of data from source to report to users
52%
Enterprise reporting needs to be trusted
49%
Data must be presented in the right format
41%
Content needs to be personalized
40%
Automated rule-based decisions based on data
27%

What must be achieved in order to enhance the support of decisions and decision-makers? (n=603)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 28

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

50% 56%
Content pull, access by users
55% 55%
Ad hoc reports and analyses
21% 46%
Printed standard reports & dashboards
35% 45%
Standardized content scheduled via
email/file system
37% 45%
BI functionality integrated in enterprise
portals
31% 65%
Mobile reports, dashboards &
applications
25% 34%
BI functionality embedded in other
solutions 16% 23%
Big (TV) screen
14% 38%
Data stories & interactive presentations
7% 25%
Large touch screen for collaboration
4% 22%
Smart devices

Today In the future

What are the most important distribution channels and reporting types in your company today and in the future? (n=603/602)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 29

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

Mobile reports, dashboards and applications

68%
Ad hoc reports and analyses for quick answers
54%
Content pull, access by users
50%
BI functionality integrated in enterprise portals
49%
Data stories and interactive presentations
44%
BI functionality embedded in other solutions
37%
Standardized content scheduled via email/file system
32%
Large touch screen for collaboration in meetings
30%
Smart devices with conversational interfaces
24%
Big screen (e.g., live dashboards in factory)
22%
Printed standard reports and dashboards
14%

Ideally, what should be the most important distribution channels and reporting types in your company? (n=602)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 30

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

48% 51%
Increase in data sources / data volumes
42% 48%
Bad data quality in source systems
46% 47%
Lack of skilled (data literate) reporting
personnel
27% 44%
Information is spread across multiple
front-end tools
42% 45%
Timely reaction to changing demands
within the business
36% 38%
User demand for faster response times
26% 32%
Inefficient collaboration between
stakeholders
30%34%
User demand for reduced data latency
23% 30%
Current tools lack required functionality
16% 24%
Unsatisfactory usability for report
creators/consumers
24% 27%
Pressure on greater efficiency in
implementation/ops
1% 1%
No significant challenges
Today In the future

What are the most important challenges for your enterprise reporting environment today and in the future? (n=603/602)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 31

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

41% 47%
Modernize underlying data management
41% 45%
Given self-service capabilities to more
users
26% 38%
Implemented new front-end tools
36% 44%
Provide reports for new data sources
30% 37%
Reduce number of reports maintained
27% 39%
Harmonize and standardize front-end
tools
26% 37%
Enhanced content with visualizations and
responsive design
25% 27%
Established an iterative BI development
process
22% 31%
Implemented new concept for corporate
reporting
10% 12%
Restricted self-service capabilities to
selected users
4% 7%
No initiatives

Implemented Planned

Which approaches has your organization pursued to enhance its reporting in the last 24 months? / Which approaches is your organi-
zation planning to pursue to enhance its reporting in the future? (n=599/599)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 32

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

Greater user satisfaction / more satisfied users

57%
Quicker insights for users
45%
More active users
42%
Increased efficiency in decision-making
35%
Increased efficiency in implementation/operation
34%
Quicker delivery of changes
24%
Lower costs through process optimization
21%
Improved competitiveness via better decisions
19%
Decision automation based on enterprise reporting results
14%
No benefits gained
5%

Which benefits and improvements have you gained through the approaches your organization has pursued to enhance its reporting?
(n=555)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 33

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

Decrease Increase
Business users will build
6% 63%
reports/dashboards for their teams
IT and BICC will build pipelines to
4% 57%
new data sources and curate data
Heavier reliance on automation to
6% 52%
support repetitive/mundane tasks

Business users will prepare data for

9% 51%
analyses based on governed sources

IT and BICC will promote analytics

7% 51%
and BI skills and data literacy
IT and BICC will train and support
9% 47%
business users

IT and business users will jointly set

6% 46%
standards for information use

Reports will be certified as having

5% 43%
trusted and vetted sources

Business users will describe, rate and

11% 40%
search data assets in data catalogs
IT and BICC will build
reports/dashboards for critical 16% 35%
applications

How will your BI organization and processes change in the foreseeable future? (n=575)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 34

 APPENDIX: ALL RESULTS

BI system in the cloud 32% 32% 64%

APIs and micro services to embed BI

18% 32% 50%
in 3rd-party solutions

New mobile front ends/mobile

17% 53% 70%
delivery of existing content

NLQ, BI bots, conversational 10 26% 36%

interfaces or search-based BI

ML for automated pattern and outlier 10 39% 49%

detection

ML for user guidance and assistance 8 34% 42%

NLG to automatically comment on 8 27% 35%

reports and data stories

In use Planned

Which of the following technology trends do you use or plan to use within your reporting landscape? (n=559)

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 35

 BARC – GUIDANCE FOR DIGITAL LEADERS

ABOUT BARC reach a software selection decision with confi-

dence. BARC also publishes insights into market
BARC is a leading enterprise software industry trends and developments, and dispenses proven
analyst and consulting firm delivering information best practice advice. BARC consulting can help you
to more than 1,000 customers each year. Major find the most reliable and cost-effective products
companies, government agencies and financial to meet your specific requirements, guaranteeing
institutions rely on BARC’s expertise in software a fast return on your investment. Neutrality and Germany
selection, consulting and IT strategy projects. competency are the two cornerstones of BARC’s BARC GmbH
Berliner Platz 7
approach to consulting. BARC also offers technical
D-97080 Würzburg
For over twenty years, BARC has specialized in architecture reviews and coaching and advice on
+49 931 880 6510
core research areas including Data Manage- developing a software strategy for your organiza- www.barc.de
ment (DM), Business Intelligence (BI), Customer tion, as well as helping software vendors with their
Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise product and market strategy. Austria
Content Management (ECM). BARC’s expertise is BARC GmbH
underpinned by a continuous program of market BARC organizes regular conferences and semi- Meldemannstraße 18 / 01.14
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research, analysis and a series of product compar- nars on Business Intelligence, Enterprise Content
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ison studies to maintain a detailed and up-to-date Management and Customer Relationship Manage-
understanding of the most important software ment software. Vendors and IT decision-makers Switzerland
vendors and products, as well as the latest market meet to discuss the latest product updates and BARC Schweiz GmbH
trends and developments. market trends, and take advantage of valuable Täfernstraße 22a
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The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 36

 SPONSOR PROFILE: BOARD

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The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 37

 SPONSOR PROFILE: IBM

ABOUT IBM Cognos Analytics is available both on-premises

IBM has been a household name in technology and in the cloud, with capabilities like automated
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The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 38

 SPONSOR PROFILE: SAP

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The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 39

 SPONSOR PROFILE: TABLEAU

ABOUT TABLEAU even embedded in your company portal. Coop-

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Tableau Desktop is an easy-to-learn and easy- Tableau Server. That’s Business Intelligence faster
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The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 40

 SPONSOR PROFILE: ZOHO

ABOUT ZOHO dashboards. It offers readymade connectors

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Zoho is the operating system for business—a popular business apps which includes the likes
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Contact details
million users around the world, across hundreds Aravind Natarajan
of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every Zoho Analytics makes collaboration easy as all Marketing Manager, Zoho Analytics
day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. the reports are dynamic, interactive, and can be Email: [email protected]
accessed online. Zoho Analytics is available both Website: www.zoho.eu/analytics
Zoho Analytics is an integral part of Zoho’s suite on the cloud, and on-premise. It has native mobile Tech Support: [email protected]
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Zoho Analytics supports a wide variety of visuali-

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The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 41

 AUTHORS

LARISSA BAIER ROBERT TISCHLER

SENIOR ANALYST, DATA & ANALYTICS MANAGING DIRECTOR BARC AUSTRIA
SENIOR ANALYST, DATA & ANALYTICS

Larissa Baier is a Senior Analyst Data & Analytics Robert Tischler is managing director and sen-
at BARC. She is responsible for the Score product ior analyst at the Business Application Research
line and product manager for the BARC Score En- Center (BARC) Austria. His areas of specialty are
terprise BI and Analytics Platforms. Furthermore analytics and business intelligence front-ends and
she is co-author of various market analyses, in- process-oriented BI applications. He supports
cluding the studies “The BI Survey”, “The Advanced companies in the software selection process, dur-
Analytics Survey” or “BI Manager” as well as a lec- ing the introductory phase and with reviews to
turer on BI topics. She specializes in decision sup- optimize architecture and organization. Robert
porting information systems with a focus on BI has many years of experience as a project man-
front ends. As a consultant, she supports compa- ager of analytics and BI projects, and has hands-
nies in the software selection process as well as in on expertise with many front-end BI tools, as well
strategic BI questions about the BI front end port- as in the backend. He also assists companies with
folio, including architecture and usage scenarios. designing, coaching and implementing reporting,
analysis and planning solutions with a focus on
self-service BI, data discovery, information de-
sign, financial planning & analysis and advanced
planning.

The Future of Reporting – © BARC 2019 42

Germany Austria Switzerland Rest of the World

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