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Adobe announced Analysis Workspace, a new way for companies to analyze, share and use marketing data through Adobe Analytics.
The new offering, which has roots in Adobe’s creative heritage, changes how companies organize and visualize their data. With Adobe’s Analysis Workplace, analysts can manipulate views of data to create polished analyses that they can then curate out to those who need actionable data to make business decisions. Analysis Workspace helps users deliver insight and drive action; they can express their “analytics creativity” as they examine data.
“Today we are unveiling Analysis Workspace in Adobe Analytics, an original way for companies to analyze, share and utilize data within an organization, all at the speed of thought,” Jeff Allen, senior director of product marketing for Adobe Analytics, wrote in a blog post on the technology. “Inspired by our creative heritage, we are changing how data is organized and consumed, helping deliver insight and drive action; no more canned reports that don’t give the broader organization any flexibility.
“Similar to the way a novice can leverage the Aviary editing tool in Adobe Creative Cloud to tweak an image that has been professionally retouched in Photoshop, data scientists can extend workspaces to marketers and other teams for further exploration,” he continued in the blog post. “Data scientists can now express their ‘analytics creativity’ and narrow down thousands of data points to a single ‘layer,’ represented by a curated analysis, tailored to the needs of a specific group within the organization. Our unique legacy with creative tools and powerful workflows allowed us to reimagine data analysis in a way nobody else could”
In Analysis Workspace, Adobe has made it simple and quick for users to create and share reports. Users can simply drag and drop dimensions, metrics and segments into a flexible data “canvas.” Manipulating complex data sets and sharing “curated” workspaces becomes highly instinctual, without the need for extensive training, Allen said.
“Our unique legacy with creative tools and powerful workflows allowed us to reimagine data analysis in a way nobody else could,” Allen said. “This industry-first approach makes highly complex data sets accessible to a much broader group of people within an organization. The paint is still wet on the thoughtful new insights they deliver, so the recipients can easily manipulate it further if desired.”
IDC estimates that the amount of digital data created will grow 40 percent each year, through 2020, Allen said. And as digital data volume grows and businesses struggle to fund and hire analytics talent, it becomes even more critical for data to be set free across an organization with intuitive tools to support its consumption, he added, noting that McKinsey projects that by 2018, demand for data scientists may be as much as 60 percent greater than the supply.
Seeing data in easily understandable and simple visuals is as important as building the workspaces, Adobe said. Visualization is a key part of the analysis and reporting process, enabling users to quickly interpret information. With Analysis Workspace, users can visualize new data with simple dragging-and-dropping of the relevant components. Data sets large and small can instantly be rendered and easily manipulated, allowing for interactive resizing, renaming and swapping between different chart and graph types.
In addition, Analysis Workspace enables users to compare and dissect data in ways not previously possible. It includes tools such as anomaly detection, contribution analysis, calculated metrics and a new cohort analysis tool.
Allen said POPSUGAR is a beta user of Analysis Workspace that has been using data to drive consumer desire. As a women’s lifestyle brand, POPSUGAR teams produce editorial content via POPSUGAR.com and also offer online fashion shopping through ShopStyle.com, their e-commerce platform. The company works with brands on both ends, including P&G, Unilever, Revlon, Neiman Marcus and Macy’s. POPSUGAR brands reach a global audience of more than 85 million consumers and drives more than $1 billion in annual retail sales through ShopStyle, he said. POPSUGAR is using Analysis Workspace for “data-driven creativity,” he added.
“POPSUGAR and their use of Analysis Workspace strikes the perfect balance between art and science, leveraging data analytics to deliver the kinds of digital lifestyle experiences that resonate best with their audience,” Allen said. “It’s a customer-centric approach, one that defines strategies and tactics based on hard numbers, as opposed to gut instinct alone. They’ve seen great success by having technology power their content and commerce efforts.”