Mobile BI refers to the recent trend of business users accessing their data and dashboards on mobile and tablet devices. This change is forcing designers to re-evaluate the user experience (UX) and replicate the same relevant content usually seen solely on desktop devices on mobile.

It’s important to know the differences in desktop and mobile application development. Since the mobile market is constantly changing in terms of devices, operating systems, and support for different types of content, the QA process can be tedious and time-consuming. Developing mobile BI apps that [1] comply with web standards like XML and HTML5 and work across multiple user platforms can make or break a product.

Figure 1. Mobile-Friendly BI and its Benefits

Figure 1 shows the mobile BI market will exceed $20 billion by 2024. Mobile devices like smart phones and tablets “are estimated to comprise more than 72% of internet traffic,” so it makes good business sense to deploy mobile-friendly BI platforms across the organizations.

While business analytics is maturing in terms of business penetration and capabilities, the demand for “good data” will continue [2] to rise throughout the next five years. In the future, BI will move to the cloud, but that trend will bring many unanswered questions about data privacy, security, and data leakage.

Mobile authoring features

Power BI provides a number of features [4] to help you create mobile-optimized versions of your reports:

• A mobile layout view where you create your mobile-optimized report by dragging and dropping visuals onto a phone emulator canvas.
• A formatting pane (preview) that enables you to precisely format your report visuals by changing their format settings.
• Visuals and slicers that can be optimized for use on small, mobile screens.

Benefits of Mobile BI

1. Speed

The very reason for the rise in popularity of Mobile Business Intelligence is its constant availability that drastically increases the speed of decision making. With real-time reports, you are able to improve operations and react quicker to changes throughout the organization.

2. Adoption

With its ease of use and availability, Mobile BI is able to penetrate deeper into the organization than traditional BI. Everyone who isn’t constantly in front of a computer screen can now have access to analytics and make decisions on the go without having to wait for a dedicated analyst to help them.

3. Efficiency

Not only can you see analytics in real-time, but also comment, annotate and share the analytics with team members and across departments all [3] with just your smartphone. This increases the level of communication in the organization, streamlines decision making and increases the efficiency of operations.

References:

1. https://www.logianalytics.com/resources/bi-encyclopedia/mobile-bi/
2. https://www.dataversity.net/business-intelligence-and-analytics-trends-in-2022/#
3. https://www.toucantoco.com/en/blog/mobile-business-intelligence
4. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/power-bi-create-mobile-optimized-report-about

Cite this article:

Thanusri swetha J (2022), Mobile-Friendly BI and its Benefits, Anatechmaz. pp.49