A dataset is only as useful as a business user can make it, which is why the industry has spent the last few years trying to streamline the analytics process as much as possible. That effort crossed a new milestone last week when three separate vendors overhauled their value propositions to try and move the ball forward.

Looker Inc. set the train in motion on Tuesday with the addition of ready-made data manipulation functions to its namesake business intelligence service that analysts are able to chain together into complete analytics workflows and customize according to their requirements. The lineup includes a selection of general-purpose models as well as niche templates targeting specific departments.

A marketing team can mix-and-match functions to identify where their highest-level leads are coming from, while the salesforce is able to incorporate that information into its own reports to optimize resource allocation. That approach is similar to what Host Analytics Inc. is going for with the pre-implemented models that it added to its own software on the same day.

The update shares Looker’s goal of making it easier for users to extract key metrics from their data but places a bigger emphasis on business operations with additions like a labor planning function that draws upon an organization’s sales forecasts and store capacity. That removes the need to reinvent the wheel for new projects, freeing up organizations to focus on more productive goals.

That includes finding more effective ways to communicate the insights they produce to the relevant stakeholders, a challenge that also received some attention last week after Adobe Systems Inc. rolled out a new visualization component to its cloud-based business intelligence suite. The aptly-named Analysis Workspace borrows a page from Photoshop and lets users drag-and-drop metrics onto a digital “canvas” to assemble charts.  

Image via Geralt