At the start of 2018, I went on a three-day boot camp about Einstein Analytics by Salesforce Stockholm. Further down, you will find my impressions of this event. For instance, the beer is very expensive in Sweden, but also my view on Einstein Analytics.
Forget Wave Analytics! Einstein is the Salesforce solution for reporting, AI, data preparation, data discovery and so much more.
The tool starts with the analytics studio, where you can create apps, dashboards and lenses. This is the interface where users create dashboards based on the datasets a data-admin prepares. Here you can also preview all the datasets as regular tables with rows and columns before you start visualizing the data.
However, you have to keep in mind that the way you manage your data (via/through your data management module) significantly affects results. For example: in Einstein Analytics you have the ability to create a flow where you combine – and manipulate data from different Salesforce objects (like the Sales Cloud , Service Cloud, ..). Meaning, all available data can be integrated and reported upon in Einstein. Giving you a prepared data set to begin with.
Also, CSV files can be uploaded and used for reporting. This feature will be extended to other (cloud) data management tools in the upcoming releases. This could improve the ‘stand-alone’ use of Einstein Analytics as a reporting solution.
One of the great strengths of Einstein Analytics is that you can report directly from Salesforce. While earlier for extensive reporting, it was necessary to export, transfer or send your data to an additional ETL-tool. With Einstein Analytics, you can keep it in your trusted environment and extend the current use of salesforce with a reporting solution. Which resembles in quicker real-time results.
Once the data is prepared, we can proceed with actual dashboards. Which is the most visible – useable part and therefore interesting part of a reporting solution. You can choose from a variety of graphs to visualize reports so you have plenty of options to display your data.
The dashboard itself can be constructed out of multiple graphs. For example in a dashboard you have the ability to:
I invite you to discover it yourself and see the many reporting possibilities Einstein Analytics offers. To make you understand all of this better, I have added a use-case down below.
Above you can see an example of an opportunity dashboard. It is a combination of multiple graphs to show the opportunities by stage. The dashboards gives the sales team a combination of graphical and numerical insights regarding the current and historical opportunities by stage in one view. When you want to get in more detail, it is also possible to drill down on the graphs or get a specific detail based on the filters on top of the dashboard.
As I mentioned earlier, another important note is that graphs give many options to display your data in different ways. In addition, graphs are very user friendly to create due to their ‘drag and drop’- way of working. However, if you want more than the standard approach: with SAQL programming it is possible to customize on an even higher level.
One of the hottest functionalities in Einstein Analytics is ‘maps’. From my experience with other reporting tools, the maps functionality requires a very time consuming and difficult set-up. With Einstein Analytics, no more. Einstein made creating maps easier and highly customizable.
The Maps functionality works with GeoJson, which enables users to set up maps quickly in a user-friendly way. Although maps is highly customizable, you also have the option to choose from pre-defined maps easily available online. …..
The logic behind this easy functionality is that you can create shapes the way you want. The map is for example a province with cities as separate shapes. In a next step, you can link those shapes to an ID (for example a postal code). In the last step, you can include Salesforce or CSV data based on the same ID of the shapes, which will allow the shapes to be filled according to this data.
Einstein can be used to display data from all different clouds across the entire Salesforce environment in a large number of dashboards and for all users that need to gain some specific insight into the data. The possibility to combine Apps, where you combine multiple dashboards around a use-case is a great functionality to display everything you create in Einstein Analytics in a business friendly way.
In a large number of business cases this will need to be an App for the Sales or Service cloud combining all cloud specific insights. Therefore, Einstein Analytics has built-in templates for a Sales or Service Analytics App. Of course, you can also start with a brand new app and design it exactly the way you want it.
For me Einstein Analytics is a tool where the first way to use it, would be especially to extend the reporting of your salesforce data.
One of the great added values of Einstein Analytics is that you do not have to transfer your data anymore in order to apply advanced reporting tactics to it. With Einstein Analytics you can now report straight ahead from Salesforce, where all your data is located.
Currently there is a strong set of graphs available, a great possibly to create show maps and the crucial ‘drill down’ & filter functionality up and running. You can structure the data in dashboard-tabs, dashboards and Apps.
As the tool is consistently improving itself, its core functionalities reach far beyond other analytics tools. Upcoming releases will improve the user-experience & extend functionalities even further.
Few will contradict me that Salesforce is currently (one of) the strongest CRM tool available. However, in the past it has been looking for the best methods of reporting data. I strongly believe that Einstein Analytics is a great addition to the existing platform. Learn more about Salesforce’s next hot reporting tool by clicking here.
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