Being proactive and not reactive is the only way to ensure your company remains competitive in the current market. As a citizen developer, you create more value for your organization when you’re able to pre-emptively create a solution for a problem that hasn’t yet reared its ugly head. Data literacy is a required skill to develop to become a “business oracle” who can see into the future with accuracy.
Decision making is less daunting when it’s backed by data. The dashboard doesn’t lie! It’s easier to sell your proactive ideas to stakeholders when your suggestions are reinforced with evidence. Here’s how to become a data-informed citizen developer with information gained from field data collection.
Get a new perspective
Regularly book some time in your schedule to see things from a perspective outside of your own. Adopt the point of view of a field service technician. What processes are they frustrated with? Where do they feel they’re losing time? You might also wish to check out Service Council’s Benchmark Report on “2020 Service Leader Trends” as their analysts examined external and internal challenges facing field service teams.
Consider what it’s like to be a customer. Are you seeing retention slipping? What can you learn from survey responses? Put on your stakeholder hat and examine if the goals they’ve set for the organization are being met. Before you get your hands dirty with quantitative analytics generated from your field data, examine any qualitative data that’s available to you so you’re better able to interpret what the numbers are saying without personal bias.
Become a dashboard master
Field data analytics are useful when they’re presented in dashboards that empower you to extract meaning from the vast amount of information as well as present information to stakeholders in an easy-to-digest manner. ProntoForms’ Basic Analytics provides essential information to help citizen developers monitor changes, zero-in on specific questions, and spot data trends.
If you need more analytics firepower, then ProntoForms offers two add-ons so you can obtain the full picture:
- Workflow Analytics – Obtain enterprise-grade analytics for extended field visibility.
- Submission Analytics – A sleek dashboard of data record submissions based on a single workflow.
Hit the books
There’s an abundance of great online classes and materials available to fill in any data analytics gaps you may have. Here are a few suggestions to enhance your ability to drive positive business and operational outcomes.
- Business Analytics Specialization Program- Wharton
- Data-Driven Decision Making Course- PwC
- Certification in Business Data Analytics – IIBA®
- Systems of Insight with Aly Mawani, VP of Operations – ProntoForms
- Analytics and Data 101 Bootcamp
- Future Data Scientists: Who Are They?
- 10 Steps to Creating a Data-Driven Culture
We created a course as part of ProntoForms University that offers analytics training based on our integration with Birst Analytics. Speak with your ProntoForms account representative if you’re interested in obtaining additional information.
Step it up with advanced analytics
ProntoForms Enterprise users have optional advanced data analytics functionality thanks to our integration with Birst Agile Business Analytics. Birst is a bespoke BI platform that analyzes data and provides dashboards and reports that help connect submitted data with your business and process. You’re also welcome to select or continue to use a different analytics platform of your choosing.
ProntoForms’ Product Documentation Portal offers a deep dive into how to create an analytics project so be sure to check it out. If you need further assistance, our support team is more than happy to lend a hand.
Embrace a new role
If you’re a data-driven business analyst, you might be interested in branching out beyond citizen development and adding a new set of credentials to your resume—citizen data scientist. Gartner defines citizen data scientists as “power users” who have the ability to perform simple and somewhat sophisticated analytical tasks that used to require extensive expertise. If you’re interested in learning more, check out our white paper titled “Empower Citizen Data Scientists with Low-Code App Platforms.”
Data-inspired business analysts with experience as citizen developers are a force to be reckoned with. Taking the knowledge gained from field data collection and rapidly translating it into an easy-to-use app has an immediate transformative effect in a business. The impact is seen economically, from a customer service satisfaction standpoint, in improving the efficiency and morale of field service technicians, and more. The best part about field data is that you can effectively examine if you’re achieving your goals as a citizen developer. Evaluate your impact on the business because of your ability to set and measure your achievements using analytics.
