Embedded reporting - what is it?

To run a successful business today, companies need to rely on real-time data analytics for decision making. Yet, surprisingly, 50% are just using spreadsheets for collecting and managing their data.

That's a vast number of companies trying to make sense of mountains of data every single day. How do you make all that data work for you? Integrating embedded reporting solutions into the software your team already uses can provide the insights you need without the hassle, improving efficiency and supporting better business intelligence.

In this guide, we're diving headfirst into the world of embedded reporting. If you're all about making smarter, data-driven decisions without getting bogged down by the nitty-gritty of data analysis, stick around.

What is embedded reporting?

At its core, embedded reporting integrates sophisticated reporting capabilities directly into the software your team or customers use every day. The definition refers to analytics functionality that lives within your existing applications, not as a separate, standalone tool. You won't have to switch between apps to get the data insights you need. Embedded reporting brings the data to you, right where you're already working.

Now, you might be wondering, "How's that different from the traditional reporting tools I'm used to?" Great question!

Traditional standalone reporting tools often exist apart from your daily business applications. They require you to export data from your operational systems and then import it into another tool to analyze and create reports. It's not exactly efficient for business users looking to make quick decisions.

​Embedded reporting, on the other hand, seamlessly integrates these analytics and visualization capabilities within your existing software environment. No more data exporting and importing gymnastics. Whether it's a CRM, ERP, or any other system your business relies on, embedded reporting tools are designed to fit right in, providing data insights at a glance and supporting your workflow more effectively.

Key differences between embedded reporting and traditional reporting

Looking beyond what we've already discussed, several critical distinctions separate analytical reporting from its traditional counterpart:

• User experience: Embedded reporting provides a seamless experience within familiar interfaces, whereas traditional reporting forces users to learn and navigate different tools with varying interfaces and design principles.
  
  
• Data freshness: Traditional systems often work with exported or batch-processed data that may be hours or days old, while embedded solutions typically provide access to current data in real-time.
  
  
• Accessibility and adoption: Embedded solutions democratize data access across departments, leading to higher adoption rates compared to traditional systems that might only be used by dedicated analysts or power users.
  
  
• Cost structure: Traditional solutions often come with separate licensing costs, while embedded reporting may be integrated into existing software subscriptions or offered as a value-added service.
  
  
• Customization capabilities: Embedded reporting can match the look and feel of your application, while traditional reporting often has limited branding options or requires extensive customization work.

The Technology Behind Embedded Reporting

Embedded reporting leverages APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and SDKs (Software Development Kits) to become a part of your existing applications. This technology allows the reporting tools to access data directly from your operational systems in real-time, crunch the numbers, and present the insights where they're most useful to you. For developers and partners looking to implement these solutions, this approach ensures easier data integration and compatibility with multiple data sources.

The beauty of this setup is that it offers real-time, actionable insights. No more waiting for end-of-day or end-of-month reports.

If something's happening in your data, you'll know about it now. This immediate access to data can dramatically change how decisions are made within a company, making the entire process more dynamic and responsive. Many companies using embedded reporting report faster response times to market changes and improved operational performance. 

How Is an Embedded Report Used?

Embedded reporting is versatile, powerful, and indispensable across a multitude of scenarios. Its application spans various industries and functions, proving that when it comes to data, the one-size-fits-all approach is a thing of the past.

Embedded Reporting in Business

By analyzing reports in the context of data in its entirety within the applications that store the data, businesses can gather better insights. Reports may be viewed and generated by end users at all levels within the applications that they use most frequently. By doing so, they are able to make better decisions while increasing their productivity. Employees and stakeholders are able to access only relevant dashboards and data streams, eliminating the need to browse through dashboards and charts.

Businesses can benefit from embedded reporting in the following ways:

• Interactive dashboards can be created, viewed, and edited to show key performance indicators, sales, and other indicators
  
  
• Compile data from a variety of sources with robust data integration capabilities
  
  
• Permissions are used to manage user access and ensure proper governance
  
  
• The application can be customized in terms of its appearance and feel to match your preferred visual identity

There are, however, a few challenges associated with embedded reporting:

• Implementation may require an initial investment and resource allocation
  
  
• Despite the fact that it is available to all users, some training may be required to gain valuable insights from the system, though the learning curve is typically less steep than with standalone solutions

Some specific applications of embedded reporting

Healthcare

Healthcare providers face unique challenges in managing vast amounts of patient data while ensuring compliance with strict regulations. Embedded reporting solutions provide significant benefits in this sector: 

• Patient care dashboards
  
  
• Operational Efficiency: Hospital administrators use embedded reports to monitor department performance, bed utilization, and staffing efficiency—all critical metrics for improving resource allocation and reducing costs.

Financial services

The finance industry deals with enormous volumes of data where real-time insights can directly impact profitability and risk management:

• Wealth management platforms: Financial advisors use embedded dashboards within client portals to display portfolio performance, asset allocation, and investment opportunities—enabling more informed client discussions.
  
  
• Risk assessment: Lending institutions embed analytical tools within loan processing systems to visualize risk factors and credit scoring models, supporting faster approval decisions.
  
  
• Fraud detection: Banks integrate real-time analytics within transaction monitoring systems to visualize unusual patterns and potential fraud cases, allowing security teams to respond faster to threats.

Beyond healthcare and finance, embedded reporting drives value across multiple sectors as manufacturing, retail or education.

Imagine a sales team that can view, Real-time sales analytics, Customer interaction histories, Performance metrics.

All without ever leaving their CRM. Embedded reporting enables this by integrating sales dashboards directly into the CRM platform, empowering sales representatives to make data-driven decisions on the fly and potentially improving revenue through more effective customer engagement.

What are the key features of embedded reporting tools?

Embedded reporting tools are not just about slapping some data onto your applications. They're about weaving insightful analytics into the very fabric of your business operations and doing so in style. The best embedded analytics solutions offer a comprehensive set of features that support sophisticated data visualization techniques.

Deep Customization Possibilities

Think of embedded reporting tools as the chameleons of the software world. They blend in so well with your existing applications that users might not even realize they're interacting with an external tool.

Deep customization allows these tools to mirror the look, feel, and functionality of the host application, ensuring that the transition between regular features and data analytics feels as smooth as butter. Whether it's matching the color scheme, font styles, or layout preferences, embedded reporting tools can fit your brand like a glove, enhancing user engagement and adoption.

White Label Option

Branding is your company's identity. That's why the white label option in embedded reporting tools is a big deal. It allows businesses to brand their analytics and reports as their own, providing a cohesive experience that reinforces brand identity.

This feature is crucial for maintaining trust and familiarity with users, ensuring that even the analytics part of your application feels like an integral part of your ecosystem, not some alien spaceship that landed by accident. For SaaS providers and portal developers, white-labeling is an essential practice for delivering a unified user experience.

Performance and Security

Under the hood of these sleek, customizable reporting tools are robust technologies ensuring that everything runs like a well-oiled machine. Performance and security are the twin pillars supporting every reliable embedded reporting tool.

We're talking about lightning-fast data processing that delivers insights in real-time, without any lag or downtime. Loading speed is a critical factor that affects user adoption. On the security front, these tools are fortified with the latest in data encryption and compliance standards, ensuring that sensitive data remains under lock and key.

Because let's face it, in today's world, speed and security are absolutely essential.

Data Connectivity

One of the coolest features of embedded reporting tools is their ability to play nice with a wide array of data sources. Whether your data lives in:

• A traditional SQL database like Microsoft SQL Server
• A modern NoSQL store
• A series of flat files
• Cloud-hosted services

These tools can connect, extract, and visualize your data without breaking a sweat. And with the rise of no-code and low-code solutions, you don't need to be a data wizard to make it happen. This ease of connectivity democratizes data analytics, allowing even non-technical users to get in on the action and derive meaningful insights from their data.

Responsiveness

People switch from desktops to tablets to smartphones more than ever. That is why responsiveness is key. Embedded reporting tools look and work great across all devices, ensuring that users can access critical data insights anytime, anywhere.

Mobile responsiveness allows the user experience to remain consistent and intuitive, regardless of the device. After all, what good is a dashboard if you can't read it on your phone? For field employees who need to stay current with actual performance data while on the go, this feature is indispensable.

Toucan's Embedded Reports Product

At Toucan, we've crafted our embedded analytics solution with a blend of sophistication and simplicity. It can empower your applications with insightful data without disrupting the user experience.

Our solution is built on the flexibility of modern web technologies like iFrames and Web components, which are the cornerstones of our embedding process. This approach offers a couple of significant advantages.

First off, we have ease of integration. By using web components, we can embed our analytics into your application as a 'page within a page', keeping it separate from your main application code, which means you benefit from our product developments without additional work from your R&D team

We also offer a component-based design. With Web components, we offer more seamless integration, packaging all the necessary HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into a single, reusable module that you can embed as if it were part of your native app code.

Here's a quick step-by-step walkthrough of how you'd typically embed our analytics into your application:

1. Decide where in your application you want the analytics to appear
2. Select the visualization or dashboard you want to embed
3. Generate the custom embed code
4. Simply copy the script provided by the Toucan platform
5. Paste it into the codebase of your application
6. Customize the size
7. Edit the interaction options
8. Preview your application to see the embedded analytics in action
9. Deploy the changes
10. Embed reports

We understand the importance of a unified platform experience. That's why our embedded analytics are highly customizable, not just in appearance but in functionality too. You can tailor the analytics to match your application's look and feel, ensuring that users see a consistent brand and interface.

Our report designer features a user-friendly drag and drop interface that makes it easier for business users to create reports without extensive technical knowledge. Additionally, we support scheduled reports that can be automatically generated and distributed to stakeholders based on predefined triggers. 

Transforming data into decisions, through embedded reporting

Embedded reporting is the linchpin of savvy, data-driven organizations. It redefines how we interact with data, transforming it into actionable insights that inform every decision, big or small. With Toucan's customer-facing analytics platform, you're telling a compelling story that engages and informs.

Ready to elevate your data game? Join the ranks of over 150 clients worldwide who trust Toucan to turn business intelligence into action. Embrace the power of data visualization with us, and let's make every data point count. Discover how our embedded analytics tools can improve user engagement, streamline reporting workflows, and drive adoption of your core products while supporting effective decision making processes.

Discover Toucan's embedded reporting today.