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Master Your Analytics Challenges With Professional White Label & Embedded BI Technologies

A guite to white label BI and embedded analytics by datapine

In the modern world of business, data holds the key to success. A recent study by Experian, shows that 84% of surveyed businesses said that there has been more demand for data insights within the company since COVID-19. That said, data and analytics are only valuable if you know how to use them to your advantage. Poor-quality data or the mishandling of data can leave businesses at risk of monumental failure. In fact, poor data quality management currently costs businesses a combined total of $9.7 million per year.

That said, to efficiently harness the insights readily available at their fingertips and convert them into initiatives that set them apart from their competitors, companies must leverage superior analytical tools, resources, and platforms. Enter embedded analytics and white label business intelligence.

White labeling and embedding analytics tools and methodologies enhance interpretive capabilities, solve targeted challenges, address risks, and offer personalized real-time analytical solutions through smart modern real-time dashboard tools.

Businesses need integrated data analysis tools if they want to make the most of their data. The data and analytics environment can be challenging to navigate, and having the right supportive tools in place can help companies gain the insights they need to meet, and even exceed, their goals. Having the ability to make real-time decisions based on trusted analytical insights that are seamless, easy to read, and user-friendly is vital to the sustained success of any modern organization.

Here, we will look at these concepts in more detail, explaining their power and potential in a practical context. Let’s get started with some definitions! 

What Is White Label Business Intelligence?

White label business intelligence or white label analytics is the technology used to customize the appearance of third-party BI software. These tools allow users to change the colors, logo, and font of a BI interface, resulting in a branded analytical experience.

Graphic showing datapine interface vs the embedded version

Many organizations rely on this technology because they don’t like the idea of constantly displaying a third-party application for their core analytical activities, but also don’t want to invest in developing a solution of their own as this process costs a lot of time and money. 

For that reason, they turn to white labeling as a way to fully rebrand and customize several elements within the interface of a third-party BI solution so that users will not even know they are using an external tool. Like this, companies of all sizes and industries can enhance their analytical efforts by providing a centralized and fully customizable experience to employees across all levels of the business or to any clients or external stakeholders. 

This technology is usually paired with embedded business intelligence which refers to the process of fully integrating a BI tool with all its features into an existing business application, system or website. We will discuss the link between these two concepts later in the post, but first, let’s look at some benefits of using white label BI.  

Benefits Of White Label Business Intelligence

Benefits of white label business intelligence

As mentioned above, the key benefit of using white label BI is being able to fully customize the look and feel of a third-party BI application. We are talking about logos, colors, fonts, buttons, visualizations, and many other elements that make this an invaluable technology. But not just that. Paired with the value of customization, organizations that rely on white labeling BI can also benefit from an enhanced user experience as well as a more secure and efficient environment to extract the maximum potential out of their performance data. Below we go into more detail about the key benefits of white label analytics.  

  1. Boost brand identity: Boosting and reinforcing brand identity is always a valuable practice, no matter if it's on an internal or an external level. Using white label analytics to customize the look of a BI tool to meet your brand identity is an excellent opportunity to boost awareness and recognition. On one side, it will help clients and investors to remember your brand. And on the other side, it will help build a cohesive brand identity amongst employees. 
  2. Increased client or staff user satisfaction: Providing your employees and clients with an advanced analytical experience that is also branded will significantly enhance the user experience. BI solutions offer real-time access to multiple data sources in one centralized location. This means users don’t need to jump from one tool to the other looking for the data they need. In time, this will significantly enhance their experience and motivate them to use data for their decision-making. 
  3. Reduced development time and resources required for implementation: Developing an in-house solution is very expensive not to mention time-consuming. By implementing a white labeled BI solution you are enjoying all the benefits of BI dashboard software without having to invest in one of your own. This is an invaluable benefit as these tools don’t require more than a couple of minutes to be installed, so you can start taking advantage of their features straight away. 
  4. A viable means of setting yourself apart from your competitors: White labeled BI tools enable businesses to make crucial strategic decisions in one centralized location. Having access to personalized real-time data helps organizations stay on top of any developments and find improvement opportunities to boost their performance. In time, this will skyrocket growth which will significantly set your company apart from competitors at the same time.

White Label BI Components

A white label analytics platform has many components. We are not just talking about the appearance of a dashboard but also about other relevant aspects such as login pages and URLs to share your dashboards with others. Let’s look at some of these components in more detail. 

  • Logo: This is the most traditional component of white label analytics, it basically allows you to replace the logo of the software provider with your logo at all relevant touchpoints. This means the login page, at the top of the dashboards, the favicon,  and other relevant spots.  
  • Colors: On that same note, in order to keep a clear brand identity across the tool it is also necessary to customize it to the color palette of your business. Here, it is important to avoid using too many colors or your interface will look messy. 
  • Buttons: Adding specific buttons depending on the use case each user needs to give to the tool is another important feature of white labeling BI. For instance, you can add a button to jump from one time period to the other. 
  • URL and email address: When sharing your dashboards via a URL, customizing this URL to your company’s name instead of the provider's name is another important component. This will not only keep the third-party app hidden in the background but it will also make your URLs more trustworthy for receivers. Likewise, if you are sharing a dashboard via email, the email should also be customized to your company name so that receivers will not think of it as spam content.  
  • Signup page: Last but not least, the signup page interface of your white label analytics platform should also be customizable. This means the interface of the page should include your logo and colors instead of the provider's. 

If you want to learn more about how all these elements work together, check our complete guide on white label reports right here! Now, let’s talk a little more about embedding BI. 

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What Is White Label Business Intelligence?

Embedded BI is the process of integrating a BI tool with its associated features like data visualization, dashboard reporting, and more into existing business applications. It gives companies all the benefits of BI software without having to develop one of their own.

Another way to explain business intelligence is through the concise definition provided by renowned independent research firm Gartner: “The use of reporting and analytics capabilities in transactional business applications.”

This branch of analytics goes a step further from white label BI due to the context: embeddable analytics are a set of capabilities integrated into systems that already function or exist (CRMs, ERPs, etc.), working to improve them through better reporting, improved interactivity, wider accessibility, an enhanced user experience, and more accurate online data visualization processes.

Embedded BI is centered on focused information that supports decision-making or specific actions in a context where such decision-making or actions take place.

Depending on the embedded dashboard solution you choose, there are a lot of options available. Many vendors offer interactivity options (drill-down, zoom-in, filter), delivering user-specific content while restricting access to deeper data; others drill down into branding; some outsource the updating and maintenance of your online dashboards; and so on.

Thanks to this wealth of choice, you can create solutions, solve challenges, make predictions, and offer renewed value to your organization, all while reaching – or exceeding – your core organizational goals.

Embedding vs Building An In House Solution 

Embedding vs building an in house solution discussion

You might be thinking, why go through all the trouble of embedding and white labeling a BI solution to make it look like my own when I can just develop one of my own? Well, that is a common and valid thought that many businesses encounter during the process of adopting analytical solutions. What they don’t always know, is that developing these solutions is not only quite expensive but also very time-consuming. It can take developers months or even years to develop a tool, not to mention the costs and effort associated with dealing with updates or bugs that are often encountered with these tools. 

Taking all that out of the equation, it is very likely that the tool you build will not reach the level of advanced features that an established BI solution can. This is because BI providers are experts in the field and are always updating their solutions to keep up with new technologies and market changes. 

In the end, embedding a BI solution into your existing system can bring many benefits over building one on your own. You will benefit from fast adoption and ongoing product development. You will not need to worry about fixing issues or manually updating the tool (the provider will take care of this). And, you will boost user experience by offering self-service real-time access to state-of-the-art BI technology. Plus, you will relieve your IT team to focus on other tasks that don’t include software development and maintenance. 

To keep putting the value of this technology into perspective, let’s look at 5 key benefits. 

Key Benefits Of Embedded BI

Key benefits of embedded business intelligence

The fact that BI applications and business process applications have differing or separate interfaces forces users to switch between them constantly to analyze and gain value from their data. This manual approach to BI often becomes fragmented and time-consuming.

A report from Logi Analytics found that 83% of respondents don’t like to switch between standalone analytics apps and would rather use just one. Moreover, 93% of people within applications teams are currently using embedded business analytics.

So, what makes embedded business intelligence software such a hot topic? What it boils down to is that business users want to interact with analytical-driven insights within their existing applications. The vast majority of users simply don’t want to have to access separate programs to gain valuable insights. This kind of analytics integrates data-driven intelligence with business process apps, empowering users to enjoy a seamless experience that is ultimately more productive, predictable, and prosperous.

Let’s delve deeper into how embedded BI tools can help you be more successful in this increasingly tech-driven digital environment. 

1. Powerful state-of-the-art BI technology: Embedding a BI solution into your own website, portal, or application will help you enhance your products or services thanks to the power of advanced business intelligence technology. With features such as real-time data access, predictive analytics, online dashboard reporting and more, you’ll be able to extract the maximum potential out of your performance data and get the necessary insights to improve your company at a technical, operational, and strategic level. 

2. Boost user experience and satisfaction: Due to the sheer wealth of metrics and insights, data and analytics can prove particularly daunting. But by embedding analytical tools in your most pivotal platforms or application, you will make everything more seamless and less stressful. Improved usability alone puts people at ease and makes them more confident in deriving insights from data. When you already know how to use a certain piece of software and can simply add new tools that can help you do your job better, it makes for a far superior user experience. 

2. A faster time to market for significantly lower costs: BI deployments require a great deal of time, from planning to development, in addition to a lot of resources that could be used for more important projects. Thanks to embedded analytics, the development time and speed-to-market can be reduced significantly, and internal resources formerly assigned to custom-code apps or create visualizations can be used for other key internal needs or tasks. Likewise, the maintenance and support costs of embedded BI tools are also minimal as you are not in charge of them. Users can continue to benefit with little to no assistance from internal developers. Leaving internal developers more time to focus on their daily operations as well. 

4. Generate new revenue streams for your organization: Integrating a BI tool into your system and branding it as your own can help you generate new revenue streams. As we mentioned earlier in the post, the pace at which businesses of all sizes are adopting analytical solutions is exponentially increasing. Embedding BI provides a great way to increase profitability by providing analytics as a service.

5. BI technology that grows with your business: Last but not least, embedding analytics tools are flexible and will grow as your company grows. This is possible thanks to the power of SaaS BI that allows organizations to scale on demand. This means they are able to customize their subscriptions based on the changing requirements of the company, meaning the tool and service on offer will grow with you. 

Now that we’ve established the definitions and key benefits of embedded analytics and white label BI, let’s take a look at the link between the two. 

What Is The Link Between White Labeling BI & Embedded Analytics?

Now that we looked into each of these technologies separately, let’s explore their value together. With most forms of embedded BI software or embedded BI reporting, it's possible to customize the interface and add either your or your client's color scheme, styling, or logo. As we saw, this is called white labeling. And it's usually a top requirement when embedding business intelligence into existing applications, thus creating the ability to look like it's your own, not someone else's solution. Extending analytics into a branded application provides the opportunity to match organizations' brands and integrate powerful analytics solutions while any brand requirement or consistency of the organization or company remains unchanged. Reporting, data visualization, or dashboarding then becomes faster while decisions are more agile.

Now, as you saw with the previous definitions, these technologies can work independently although some might consider them interchangeable concepts. That said, when merged together they provide an enhanced analytical experience that can skyrocket a business performance. White labeling your embedded BI software not only makes an application or tool appear more cohesive; a familiar design can also improve engagement and enhance usability. 

These are some of the main reasons why when implementing an embedded BI solution you should also consider white label as a part of the mix. But how does this process actually work at a technical level? Below we will discuss a workflow example to help you understand how all of this is possible. 

How Do Embedded Analytics & White Labeling Work: A BI Workflow Example

At a technical level, embedding and white labeling a BI solution is a quite complex process that ensures a company and a third-party BI provider can exchange data in a secure and efficient environment. To help you understand the embedded business intelligence requirements and steps, we will describe a workflow example of the process. It is important to note that this example is based on datapine’s embedding analytics workflow and some steps or processes can differ from other companies methods. 

1. BI software is embedded via iFrame

The first step in the process after you decide you want to embed an analytics tool into your website, app, or portal is to connect it via iFrame. An iFrame, also known as an Inline Frame, is an HTML document that is embedded into a website’s code allowing you to include content from external pages into your own pages or interface. iFrames can be used to embed any type of content from an external source including YouTube videos, images, articles, and in this case, an entire BI software. 

As stated by TechTarget, the process works like this: “When the web browser encounters an iFrame element, it creates a new HTML document environment to load the content within. It takes the code from the referenced src or srcdoc and renders it as its own website that is then put entirely within the parent browsing page. It is called an inline frame because to the user it is all one web page.”

It is important to note that in order for this process to work, the BI solution needs to be built to be embedded. Most BI tools are not built like this or offer required security standards.  

2. User authentication 

Once you have embedded the tool into your system, you need to provide access to employees or any other users you see fit. For this process, datapine generates a single sign-on (SSO) to allow users to access the tool through your login interface without having to also login into datapine. This is done through a user authentication process that allows two web applications to securely share claims with each other (in this case, user authentication data), by using a JWT (JSON Web Token). A JWT is an open standard that defines a compact and self-contained way to securely transmit information between parties as JSON objects. This information can be verified and trusted because it is digitally signed through a shared secret key.

The process works like this: 

  1. A user accesses your website/app/software with his/her login credentials.
  2. The user goes to the section of your website/app/software in which datapine is embedded via iFrame.
  3. The iFrame loads and redirects itself to the authentication URL of your company.
  4. The customer authentication endpoint receives the login request from our software from your website/system and this generates a JWT that is securely signed through the shared secret key.
  5. Then, after the JWT was created with the user credentials and signed with the shared secret key, a callback request is made to our system with a parameter called “token”.
  6. Finally, datapine receives this JWT and confirms its validity. Once this is confirmed the user is granted access to the tool and a datapine authentication cookie is set. 

When logging in users via SSO, you can also set up some customized conditions for specific users. For example, you can define different viewing rights so that only specific users have access to certain dashboards or even to specific data inside the dashboards. Some users will be able to only visualize data while others might be allowed to edit the dashboards depending on the rights you define. These settings can also be configured as security rights, by defining which data sources the specific user can access. This is especially important when you are dealing with sensitive data that can only be accessed by certain people. 

3. Customizable UI features

As mentioned in the white labeling section of this blog post, being able to white label the interface of the tool is a very relevant aspect of embedding BI. In datapine, you can customize multiple elements of the UI to enhance the user experience. 

  • White label appearance: In this section, you can customize the look and feel of the software by changing the logo, colors, font, login paths, URLs, and more, to fully meet your company’s branding. By doing so, you make sure users don’t even realize they are using a third-party application. 
  • User Interface: You can also enhance the user interface by customizing a few usability elements based on your user's preferences. Some of these elements include changing the language of the software or dashboard, adding specific buttons for usability, customizing the toolbar to meet specific requirements, and defining export rights. 
  • Interaction opportunities: In datapine, you can also provide users with the power to interact with the data contained in the dashboards. This is possible thanks to interactive filters that enable users to dig through the data using different time intervals, drill downs, and more.

4. Multi-tenant features: 

A multi-tenant environment, also called multitenancy, is a software environment in which multiple users share common access to the system and its features. In a multitenancy environment, each tenant’s data is isolated from the other tenants sharing the application, ensuring security and privacy for all. In most cases, tenants are considered individual users, however, in some cases, a tenant can be an entire organization. 

Software multitenancy is the architecture on which SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) is delivered and it has multiple benefits: 

  • Lower costs by allowing multiple users to work on the same application. SaaS businesses often offer subscription prices based on the number of users so a multitenant environment is often cheaper. 
  • Multitenant environments can be customized to meet the tenant’s needs without expensive or time-consuming developments. Plus, all activities are carried out in a secure environment. 
  • The multitenant software provider takes care of all updates and maintenance. This means customers can enjoy new features or fixes without any effort. 

In the case of datapine, it is possible to implement SSO in multi-tenancy environments assigning a private and isolated database to a user. This is done through a security right that gives users access only to the data they are allowed to, building a more secure environment while still maintaining scalability. The types of databases supported by datapine include MySQL, MySQL8, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Redshift, and MariaDB, among others.  

Your Chance: Want to benefit from professional white labeled analytics?
Try our state-of-the-art embedded BI software for a 14-day free trial!

Utilize These White Labeled Embedded BI Examples

Now that we’ve discussed the topic in detail, let’s explore a few pivotal examples of white labeled embedded analytics – starting with sales.

1. White Labeled Sales Dashboard 

You will have a lot more opportunities to make sales with customers using embedded BI. By utilizing a customer relationship management software like SugarCRM or Salesforce, you can collect data based on your customers as well as your sales reps, then gain a host of invaluable insights from that data. But having the means to analyze and visualize this data in a meaningful way is even better as it can help you create interactive dashboards and sales reports that will deliver the right information in a comprehensible way.

This embedded analytics example is a sales dashboard detailing the sales cycle length step by step as well as the performance of different sales managers in terms of turning a lead into a deal. With this most valuable of embedded analytics templates, you can easily make sense of that data in a visually digestible format:

Embedded BI Example: Sales Cycle Length Dashboard to track the whole sales funnel

**click to enlarge**

2. Embedded Analytics For Finance

Another invaluable insight into business intelligence use cases comes in the form of the financial sector.

The financial industry is rife with facts, figures, and metrics that need to be handled with razor-sharp precision – even the slightest of miscalculations can cost a firm or bank clients, partners, and investors a colossal amount of time and money. This is where financial reporting and analysis need the help of embedded BI.

Not only do embedded analytics templates and software help to make financial data far less fragmented and its handling exponentially more accurate, but due to their accessible nature, it allows departments throughout a financial organization to use fresh, more cohesive insights to their advantage by simply utilizing a comprehensive, smart finance report.

With this level of access and usability, financial institutions can make faster, more informed investment decisions, boost internal economic efficiency, improve their consumer relationships, and more.

Below is the embedded BI template, a finance dashboard, that uses a valuable mix of financial KPIs to calculate income and expenditure more accurately while gaining a level of insight that can ultimately save the financial businesses and departments an incredible amount of money every year – costs that could be invested elsewhere in the business.

Embedded BI tools used to create a financial dashboard report

**click to enlarge**

3. White Label Marketing Dashboard 

Last but not least, the marketing department is another area that can truly benefit from personalized embedded analytics software.

Given that marketing teams usually work on a tight and very planned budget, having access to real-time data about the performance of their campaigns can help them spot any bottlenecks and optimize them immediately to avoid wasting resources.

For instance, if you implemented a campaign and saw that after 7 days it is not performing well, you can either tweak it to meet your customers' preferences or eliminate it altogether. With traditional marketing analytics tools, this process would’ve been carried out by the end of the month when the budget for the unsuccessful campaign has already been spent. Therefore, having access to advanced marketing BI technology within your own company ecosystem can help you make prompt strategic decisions that will skyrocket your promotional efforts. 

The example below is a white labeled marketing dashboard for a retail company. It tracks the performance of three main campaigns with insights into budget spending, clicks, impressions, and more. It serves as the perfect source of knowledge to support any discussions or strategic decisions that might arise. 

White labeled marketing report as an example of embedded business intelligence

**click to enlarge**

Your Chance: Want to benefit from professional white labeled analytics?
Try our state-of-the-art embedded BI software for a 14-day free trial!

 A Real-Time Decision Driver

As you’ve learned throughout this post, embedded analytics and white labeling business intelligence have real-world applications that directly impact organizations, as shown in the three examples above. This, in turn, can help in coordinating workflows, accurately logging hours for employees, offering added help with labor deployment, and much more. It’s easy to see how embedded BI applications are not only incredible for your organization but also a living, breathing necessity in today’s ultra-competitive business world.

White labeled embedded business intelligence tools allows businesses to make better, real-time, data-driven decisions across departments and teams. Being an IT expert or reading code is no longer required to make sense of data and use it to develop informed decision-making that impacts your organization across a variety of activities.

Still wondering about white labeled embedded analytics or want to know what it looks like in practice? Try datapine’s 14-day trial for free, and see it by yourself, or contact us to discuss a custom solution for your app.