Most data analysts and analytics companies operate under the assumption that if people have access to quality data when and where they need it most, they’ll actually use it.

But that’s not entirely true.

Studies show analytics and IT leaders are building data cultures, investing in data and analytics tools, and training people to make use of their data-driven insights. Still, in most organizations, analytics tend to be the purview of data scientists, engineers, and analysts. Those not part of the data priesthood typically stand in line to ask those overworked professionals to hunt down the insights they need, and by the time they’re delivered, they’re often outdated or irrelevant. 

Fortunately, we’re undergoing a major shift that will overcome these challenges: everywhere analytics. 

Everywhere analytics is a concept that has been around for a while, but thanks to today’s tech stack, analytical insights will soon become as ubiquitous as running water. And, in 2025, I’m confident that one-quarter of all data will be delivered ‘ambiently.’ In other words, instead of making data-rich charts and insights available in one app or dashboard, everyone will have snackable insights integrated directly into anywhere work happens.

In other words, instead of making data-rich charts and insights available in one app or dashboard, everyone will have snackable insights integrated directly into anywhere work happens.

Nate Nichols, VP of Product Management, Tableau

AI agents, including those within Agentforce, Salesforce’s complete AI system for augmenting teams with trusted, autonomous agents in the flow of work, will further accelerate the delivery of everywhere analytics by surfacing information and taking action without human prompting, saving users from proactively seeking out information — ultimately helping all of the self-proclaimed “non-data people” uncover deep and relevant insights. No more struggling to find the right reports or dashboards, and no more struggling to pull meaningful insights from charts and graphs. Instead, the insights users seek will surface organically in the tools they regularly use (like their CRM and Slack), leading to smarter decisions with minimal friction.

Salespeople, for example, will be armed with relevant and tailored insights on customer and prospect behavior — like how their team’s win conversion rates are trending for the quarter — so they can focus their efforts on areas that have the biggest impact on quota attainment. Marketers will have access to timely industry insights to guide campaigns and activations that deliver the best leads for sales teams. And HR leaders will be able to see things like employee engagement scores and turnover rates directly in tools like Workday so they know which initiatives to prioritize in order to optimize employee performance and retention. 

Overcoming analytics hurdles

All of this said, the task of making analytics universally accessible is not without its challenges.

Despite the widespread recognition of data’s importance in decision-making, many businesses fail to harness their data’s potential because they struggle to find, integrate, cleanse, and analyze it. Thus, they can’t uncover the important insights and takeaways to help maximize business impact. 

It’s not due to a lack of interest. In a Salesforce survey of 10,000 IT leaders, 87% said advances in AI make data management a high priority, and a recent report also found data analytics ties with AI as the top budget priority among most global IT leaders. But they are losing people in the last mile of the analytics lifecycle because access to data and insights is too manual, too complex and often takes too long to create impact.

This is why AI agents are key to unlocking the everywhere analytics era.

Nate Nichols, VP of Product Management, Tableau

This is why AI agents are key to unlocking the everywhere analytics era. A worker can ask a question, and have Agentforce use information from Salesforce Data Cloud to determine how to answer the question, and Tableau to use the context of their role and the business they work for to autonomously extract the insights that are most relevant to them. What’s more, data is presented in a visualization that’s easy to consume — and agents will point users to other useful insights that they might not have otherwise seen. 

For example, Tableau customer Natura is using Tableau Pulse to monitor metrics and identify areas requiring course correction to ensure alignment with strategic objectives, such as data maturity. These metrics are delivered automatically to key stakeholders, which helps enable quicker data-driven decision-making. And I anticipate that this is only going to get better as we start to see more departments incorporate data into their everyday lives thanks to agents and everywhere analytics.  

By proactively surfacing insights right where people are working, AI agents eliminate the need for users to switch between apps and dashboards or crunch numbers themselves.

Enhancing the user experience 

So, while access to the right data is essential, it’s not enough.

Instead of making data-rich charts and insights available in one app or dashboard, ‘everywhere analytics’ delivers snackable insights anywhere work happens — ultimately helping all departments use data to optimize business performance. 

Learn more:

• Read more about Agentforce and Agentforce for Tableau
• Learn more about the new Tableau

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