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7 reasons why your business intelligence team needs 9A Smart Insights

Collecting data is one thing. But what you do with the data is imperative for the value they bring.
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Enterprises today collect a lot of data in different systems, this increases the chances of not seeing the forest for the trees. There are two common scenarios. On the one hand, smaller companies and start-ups want to get ahead of the competition by collecting as much data as possible. Unfortunately, what to do with that data next is not always clear. On the other hand, larger, established companies often see their people struggling with legacy systems that collect mountains of data, but from which it is difficult to extract anything insightful.

Data as a threshold

OK, this may be a somewhat dramatized, stereotypical picture. But both cases do illustrate that today the problem is no longer data collection. What companies often find more difficult is gaining insight into data. Fortunately, with the advent of business intelligence tools such as Microsoft's Power BI, much has changed. Enterprises can now put different data sources together and create insightful data visualizations from them. These, in turn, enable accurate, data-driven decisions to be made.

However, enterprises often find setting up a Power BI environment difficult. Bringing different data sources together is not always straightforward, and not every enterprise has the technical skills to extract data from sources, turn it into insightful visualizations or even understand data structures. The unfortunate result is that teams often become discouraged from working with BI at all. Worse, they revert to spreadsheets and local systems. Gone single version of the truth...


9A Smart Insights: BI for everyone

The 9A Smart Insights platform seeks to address this. 9A Smart Insights is an intelligent data platform based on Power BI that enables companies to quickly extract data sources and seamlessly transform them into real-world insights.

The platform works with a pre-built semantic middle layer between the source data and data visualization, which ensures that reports and visualizations are available out of the box. 9A Smart Insights automates the entire flow of a data warehouse, from source system analysis to loading the data into a front-end. This allows you to deliver BI projects much faster and with fewer resources.

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7 reasons why your business intelligence team needs 9A Smart Insights



1. Get started quickly with out-of-the-box reports

BI tools often require an intensive learning curve. It takes time to master how to extract data, set up reports, create visualizations, etc. Not only is that daunting for the people who have to work with it, but it also costs your organization a lot of money. 9A Smart Insights, on the other hand, is a quick-start solution that works with pre-filled content packages that allow teams to set up dashboards faster. In no time, you have the numbers you need and can make the necessary, data-driven decisions.

2. Everything from Microsoft Dynamics 365 at your fingertips

9A Smart Insights is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 by default. That means you have all the data managed by Dynamics 365 applications right at your fingertips. This gives you an immediate starting point for comprehensive reporting and reduces the risk of errors. Of course, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications are not the only sources that feed the system. You could think of 9A Smart Insights as a power strip, where Microsoft Dynamics 365 only occupies one outlet.


3. Smooth from overview to detail

A clear overview of different data sources that allows you to make informed decisions. That's clearly the power of Power BI and 9A Smart Insights. But equally, the platform allows you to zoom in on the details from your overall numbers. You don't have to plow through endless screens to find what you're looking for. 9A Smart Insights makes zooming in very efficient and less time-consuming, exactly what the productive and time-conscious employee will be able to appreciate.

4. Customizable to your needs

9A Smart Insights is a quick-start solution with out-of-the-box components. But that doesn't mean you can't customize anything to suit your own needs. And the good news is: you can easily do it yourself, without the help of expensive consultants or outside technical support. Customize your own report, create a new field or optimize the user experience? Thanks to drag-and-drop functionality and underlying data links in the semantic middle layer, it's all easy.

5. Grow with Microsoft

9A Smart Insights is built on reliable Microsoft technology and follows the principles of Power BI. In that familiar environment, your users will be up to speed quickly and you will also be assured of a well-functioning system in the future. You also benefit from frequent updates, so you can always keep up with Microsoft's latest features.


6. Always with you, always accessible in the cloud

With 9A Smart Insights, you enjoy the full benefits of the cloud. You work in your web browser and you always have the latest version of your application without having to manually update anything. Of course, this way you also have access to 9A Smart Insights wherever there is internet. Handy for remote workers!
Microsoft Fabrik inspired 9altitudes image

Understanding Microsoft Fabric: What you need to know

9A Smart Insights is available to Microsoft Fabric - learn more about Microsoft Fabrik and how you can leverage this new platform.

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7. Your data in a safe place

9A Smart Insights is based on secure Microsoft technology and uses strict cloud access security and end-to-end data encryption. Moreover, in 9A Smart Insights you can set your security per layer (in the data layer, semantic layer and in the presentation layer). This way, you limit the risk of spreading company-sensitive information and you also don't have to configure security settings for each report, saving you a lot of time.

Why Aluvision chose 9A Smart Insights

Aluvision, manufacturer of modular systems for the event industry and indoor and outdoor market was looking for a way to make their data coming from the ERP system and Excel easily available and combined into various reports. They chose 9A Smart Insights, combined with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.

Read the full case

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