Executive Summary: ISG Provider Lens™ Analytics - Platforms and Solutions - Germany 2021
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- ISG Provider Lens™ Analytics - Platforms and Solutions - Self-Service Analytics and BI Platforms - Germany 2021
- ISG Provider Lens™ Analytics - Platforms and Solutions - Data Preparation & Integration Platforms - Germany 2021
User attention towards analytics remains high. Organizations are beginning to realize the added value of advanced analytics over traditional reports and spreadsheets. Large IT consultancies and IT technology firms form the largest user groups owing to their strong marketing power. At the same time, most organizations face intense competition from newly established ones and the specialists already mentioned. Also, when there are historical or personal references, the main people responsible for special topics such as analytics tend to disengage quickly. In this way, enterprises can apply their strengths to large-scale projects. One of the main priorities of users is the availability of data across all departments.
Those involved in a task should be able to perform data analysis according to their role, from quick reviews of business process data to scenario analysis to analysis of enterprise-wide metrics. From a technological perspective, there are important trends for future projects. One of these include the move to modern development environments that can be developed by users themselves by using a self-help tool. Analytics environments should be able to deliver this capability. Some vendors already offer platforms with low-code and no-code development environments.
Technical innovations for building intelligent analytic environments include DataOps, machine learning operations (MLOps) and DevOps. Providers in this space should be able to help clints deploy IT environments on-premises and as multi-cloud environments and cross-enterprise data structures. There are also innovations in the implementation – end users in business departments should be able to collect data and present it for analysis through drag-and-drop, point-and-click, self-service, voice-driven AI and natural language queries. These are requirements that service providers should particularly address by providing a broad partner network for infrastructure, implementation and enforcement issues. Well-staffed IT service providers can partially offset the associated expense by deploying many employees.
When it comes to analytic applications, users are becoming familiar with terms such as data monetization, data democratization and data orchestration. Enterprises want to know the worth of their data in purely pecuniary terms and which ones contain economic information. Although sometimes reluctant, enterprises are moving away from providing company figures to workers for gaining full control. The value of data is becoming increasingly important, both for a company's business processes and results as well as others in the partner network.
Employees can significantly improve the value of the analysis by leveraging on-site knowledge. Typically, field employees have a better understanding of detailed data to develop solutions. Such attributes help enterprises stay ahead of the competition. Service providers should support this not just from a management aspect but for all levels through a strong presentation of key performance indicators. They should also master concepts such as RPA, hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), cloud, AI and machine learning around the analytics solution.
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, several IT projects were postponed. Many enterprise clients were urged to virtualize workstations and set up home offices, leading to various ramifications. Some vendors have succeeded in helping their clients manage theimpact of the pandemic by offering analytical solutions. Such services helped users to better analyze and take countermeasures against the risks, such as those posed bysupply chain disruptions.
Compared to other countries in the European Union, Germany continues to lag in digitization. The market has been largely stable at the time this study was prepared. This also affects the market for analytical platforms. Companies have a considerable investment backlog, making innovation through analysis time consuming.
However, the market does not completely lack momentum. Startups in the enterprise and solution provider ecosystems are creating movement. The latter may overtake established large full-service providers with individual solution approaches, rather than a comprehensive portfolio of solutions and services.
The shortage of skilled labor, a major bottleneck in this space, is being addressed by nearshore and offshore services backed by high staffing levels. Service providers derive part of their revenue from the provision of staff. For example, one provider deployed a large portion of its that employees (around 4,000) on an analytical project for a German global player.
In addition, investors face various challenges that are being addressed through innovation support programs, though these are applicable to IT innovations to a certain extent. Analytical solutions can be partially funded under the Research Promotion Act.
In the analytics space, Indian vendors have a sizeable market share. Apart from them, other global suppliers have grown significantly and reached a high level in the application of standard technologies. They should now adapt to the specific needs of German users. The challenges for international suppliers are local staff, German as a negotiating language, and a better knowledge of the sector or the needs of German customers. Providers based in Germany took part in the study less often by actively providing information. The market analysis shows that providers generally offer timely solutions to clients and therefore have a strong market position.
Two key challenges still exist – the lack of skilled resources and the need to reduce workloads. In addition, company staff should be able to use data and receive information. Technical innovations include highly intelligent platforms and the convergence of DataOps, MLOps and DevOps, multi-cloud data integration and powerful data fabrics. From an operations perspective, the main issue is about involving users in specialty departments. This can be achieved by leveraging platforms that allow users to create analytical dashboards and more complex applications without programming skills.
The transition from a "data-driven" enterprise to a "data enterprise" is the new paradigm for analytics IT in the wake of digital transformation. An important prerequisite for this is a solid strategy. Without a well thought-out roadmap, many analytical projects can fail. Some users already have a strategy, but still face unanswered questions such as where to start, what data to consider, or how the analysis will impact business processes and outcomes. On the journey towards being a data-driven enterprise, data quality, integrity and security play a significant role in achieving various goals such as data protection against errors or cyberattacks. These processes gained significant traction during the pandemic and even post the crisis, accelerating the pace of change in analytics. Enterprises and service providers were also given an opportunity to prioritize investments and various innovations.
At the same time, providers should focus on staff management and employee motivation. The Young Professional Attractiveness Index 2021 (YPAI), in cooperation with the market research institute Kantar, has listed down the most popular employers in Germany. Of the top 10, only Google, SAP and Microsoft are represented in this study. This shows that most providers should take various initiatives such as providing clearly defined career paths, in-house training, salary levels, fringe benefits and others. However, international providers with a strong presence in Germany face a major challenge in these aspects unlike smaller local suppliers that are often further ahead. Smaller players often have long-term employees who can identify with the company culture and apply their strong industry knowledge to projects. Such companies focus on employee empowerment by eliminating micromanagement and micro-reporting and providing many benefits along with a pleasant work environment.
ISG has identified two specific market categories: data preparation and integration platforms, and self-service analytics and business intelligence (BI); the former was included for the first time in this study. Significant demand exists in the market for both segments.
In the new data preparation and integration platforms category, Alteryx, Hitachi Vantara, Informatica, SAP, SAS Institute, Talend, Teradata and TIBCO led the way. Denodo is positioned as a Rising Star.
In the self-service analytics and BI category, the following vendors are in the Leaders quadrant: datapine, eoda, IBM, Microsoft, Qlik, SAP, SAS, Tableau and TIBCO. Altair, an established provider of solutions for technical users, is named a Rising Star.
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