Actionable insights from data can seem elusive to businesses, even those who have tried to utilize analytics software. The reasons for this are varied; it's certainly possible their software product wasn't as powerful as they'd anticipated. Still, it's even more likely that the software's power wasn't fully harnessed to yield results – an entirely avoidable scenario. Find the Value Even the gold standard of analytics software, complete with all the bells and whistles, has little value if it isn't extracting relevant data and insights. For many businesses, the realization emerges that they didn't merely want to buy a software product. In fact, what they actually wanted to own was results – the insights derived from data analysis. A dearth of actionable insights exists when analytics software – even top-of-the-line products – is not properly utilized. Of course, analytics software can be an unwieldy creature, requiring intimate knowledge, continuous tweaking and targeting to best leverage results and derive the most value. Why Talent is Necessary Let's take a step back and examine why businesses seek out analytics software in the first place. For one, it helps to streamline a company's decision making process using data-driven insights. Armed with the insights, or results, extracted by analytics software, it's possible to better target potential customers, deliver more of what current customers are seeking, and aid in making smarter, data-informed decisions that further a business's goals. Businesses will likely encounter vendors touting their software products as "easy-to-use." Claims like that should be viewed as an immediate red flag. Analytics software is remarkably complex, though many vendors would have potential customers believe otherwise. While it's possible to go it alone using simple Software as a Service (SaaS) products, it makes more sense to place the gathering and delivery of results in the hands of an expert. In the day-to-day world, when you're hungry and you get the urge for a hearty pizza, you have a few choices, right? You can dine out at a gourmet restaurant specializing in pizza, pick up the phone and order a pizza to be delivered to your doorstep, or you might pop a pre-made, frozen pizza into the oven. Of course, you can also drive to the grocery store, purchase all of the ingredients, then go home to make a pizza from scratch. You have to pick and choose which method best fits your need. Chances are, unless you're a practiced chef itching to cook up a pizza, you'll most likely want to get delivery or go to a restaurant. Why? Because it's not "how" the pizza gets made that matters to you – it's the finished product you're craving. With data analytics, your ultimate goal isn't an intricate software system – it's obtaining the results, or insights, from the software. Where You'll Find Results: Solution as a Service SaaS analytics products exist in the cloud and do release businesses from certain worries, like where their software is being served, or whether it is being updated. The catch, of course, is that with SaaS option businesses still need to manipulate the software to their benefit, on their own time. The idea that you can simply apply an algorithm to the data and have it return useful insights is closer to fantasy than reality. This is because businesses need more than software to monitor and predict outcomes, and ultimately bring in results. They need talented people. The only surefire way to gather the most value from a software product is through Solution as a Service (SolaaS), a system that joins the industry's top-performing software with a team of well-trained data scientists through a single vendor. Collaboration between vendor and customer is critical, as is the tightly integrated connection between product and people afforded by the single vendor solution. This movement away from the systems integrator model (where the integrator may not own the software it's using) toward a unified solution means that when questions arise from data scientists, software developers, or even the customer – they can be quickly and directly addressed. There is no loss of valuable time, which allows data scientists to continuously manipulate and extract the data most relevant to your business, executing targeted and actionable insights. The unified SolaaS model creates a seamless, synergetic relationship that delivers exactly what your business desires: results. Summary To guarantee successful data analysis, it's best to leave the implementation and continual targeting of data analysis in the hands of data scientists, which is exactly what SolaaS enables you to do. SolaaS offers access not only to robust data analytics software, but also to the best talent in the industry to leverage it, delivering more of what you need to know to your business's doorstep.