It’s no secret collaboration is key to improving efficiency, productivity, and innovation, which in turn leads to better business decisions. But when you apply the concept of collaboration to analytics, everything gets better. A lot better.

Collaborative analytics bring people, ideas, and processes together. Add BI to the mix, and the entire process becomes an analytics powerhouse, enabling stakeholders to not only analyze current and historical data but share perspectives and zero in on actionable insights.

Think about it: without analysis and perspective from other departments, how can finance make strategic decisions that don’t negatively affect marketing? How can the sales team be as effective as possible if they don’t have insight from manufacturing? These are just some of the reasons why a recent report by the IDC directly linked collaboration between IT, line-of-business, and analytics groups to more successful data and analytics projects.

Here are five ways collaboration boosts business outcomes:

1. Strength in numbers:

More input from people with different expertise—from data scientists and business users to executives and developers—leads to a body of knowledge built on collective wisdom, not disparate ideas.

2. Faster decision-making:

Aberdeen Group found that collaborative intelligence can speed up decision-making by 46%. That’s because collaborative tools keep everyone on the same page, so nobody’s lost working with last week’s data, or wasting time on redundant research.

3. Foster innovation:

It’s all about creative problem-solving. When collaboration around data happens, different stakeholders bring different perspectives on an issue, and different perspectives lead to new insights and innovative ideas.

4. Boost confidence:

Research shows that interaction with team members improves employee satisfaction and confidence. After all, everybody likes positive feedback. Collaborative analytics boosts and confidence and trust between teams.

5. Boost your bottom line:

Making faster, more effective decisions is hard to quantify in dollars, but faster decisions translate to money saved. According to Aberdeen, companies that encourage analytical collaboration experience an average of 18% in revenue growth and 5%
higher operating profits.

The benefits are clear, but according to IDC, less than 25% of IT, line-of-business, and analytics experts regarding their level of collaboration with other groups as extensive. More often than not, obstacles like poor data access, manual reporting that leaves the data that is available outdated and error-prone, and departments, teams, and individuals functioning in silos.

Domo brings together automated reporting, access to live data, and real-time collaboration. See how Domo’s collaboration tool, Buzz , helps executives and their teams collaborate easily around real-time business data.