Businessolver's Integration of Sisense for Enhanced Data Analytics and Reporting

• Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics
• Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

• Professional Service
• Software

• Business Operation
• Quality Assurance
• Sales & Marketing

• Software Design & Engineering Services
• System Integration
• Training

In addition to the custom software that Businessolver had developed internally, they were also using several off-the-shelf technologies such as inContact for their service center; Salesforce.com for sales team and Sage for the accounting department. There was no unified method to tie those disparate data sources together and get an overall picture of the customer interaction. Users would get various exported files from various other users and load them up into MS Excel and analyze in a single location. Due to this lack of uniformity to data access, team members were constantly providing different results to the same question. The problem was not the volume of data but rather the disparate sources of it. It was critical to Businessolver to find and acquire a tool that would allow them to connect all their data sources across the enterprise. That way they would be able to have full confidence that their results were accurate no matter who was collecting the information, and that data could drive decision making based on facts and not based on feelings. Sony Sung-Chu is the Director of Applied Data Science at Businessolver and it was his task to find and test potential solutions. With his years working as a Business and IT Analyst, he came at the question from a very technical perspective. Sony also brought in Sara Johnson, the lead BI analyst for Businessolver, whose background is in economics, math and Business Intelligence. Johnson brought in the first data warehouse at Businessolver and was to be tasked as the internal BI expert, responsible for training and maintenance.

Businessolver provides best-in-class Benefits Administration technology to companies. They provide a comprehensive partnership that develops technology to fit the needs of their clients, providing data exchanges their clients rely on. The mission at Businessolver is to make every interaction with their clients a pleasant, productive, and efficient experience. Navigating Human Resources and Benefit Administration is an arduous task to take on internally and Businessolver knows that technology alone isn’t going to solve it, so they provide a combination of top-shelf technology with a highly trained and professional call center to serve their clients. Businessolver's approach ensures that their clients receive not only the technological tools they need but also the support and expertise to use those tools effectively. This dual approach helps their clients manage complex HR and benefits tasks more efficiently and accurately, leading to better overall outcomes for their businesses.

Sony looked at Jaspersoft, Tableau, and Crystal Reports, but none of these solutions provided the connectivity that Businessolver needed. It was through various internet searches that he discovered Sisense and downloaded the free trial to ensure it worked as advertised, which it did. Sisense was far easier to use than the competition as well as being priced more competitively. Sisense was rolled out to an internal server and accessed via the web interface. They didn’t need to get any new hardware or software licenses to accommodate the purchase, and were in fact using a commodity server they already had and the performance was still exceptional. At this point, Johnson was watching some of the succinct training videos online and experimenting with the software to get a feel for it. Connecting all the data sources was extremely straightforward and she had working prototypes happening within the first few hours. This experimentation really gave Johnson a good sense of what was possible and allowed her to be an effective trainer for the other departments in the company.

• From the point of the first install to having a fully deployed implementation available to end users took just a few months. What once took a large number of employees trying to pull various data sources into Excel spreadsheets that didn’t have accurate data, now is handled by just one person with significantly greater accuracy.
• There was some small, natural resistance to change during the initial deployment, but after just a small amount of training, the users couldn’t dive in fast enough. More and more people are making use of Sisense today either directly or indirectly through the reports that are generated through Sisense. There are about 25 internal users which consist of the executive team and what they call “circle” leads. These reports are then circulated out to their circle team members who use the results to plan their days. Virtually every employee gets the benefit of the Sisense reports.
• Although external users do not currently have direct access to Sisense dashboards, they do receive regularly scheduled reports that are generated and sent by email. Accounting users can now track minutes and billing while call center users watch call volume and efficiency. The service center users monitor their various challenges and where they are happening so they can work to prevent them from happening again. They are using it to monitor their clients “temperature” on a daily basis for any points that need to be addressed. The sales team uses Sisense to track sales opportunities; there are seven rounds in their sales cycle, so with Sisense’s help, they are able to manage and monitor the sales cycles and anticipate internal loads for the various implementation steps of deploying a new client.

• Time spent generating reports cut by 25%
• Save 1 man hour per person, per day, company-wide
• 10x increase in reporting consistency between departments