From Analytics-as-a-Service to Analytics-as-a-Consumer-Service: Exploring a New Direction in Business Intelligence and Analytics Research

Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) applications have been investigated predominantly within organizational contexts, with users in formal, normatively regulated roles. This research explores what happens when BI&A is taken out of organizational context and made available to consumers, rather than organizational (e.g. Business) users. The paper offers an exploratory case study of such an environment called My School, providing highly sensitive data and business analytics tools to a wide range of consumers for more than four years. The paper identifies different types of information users in this environment and explores various (intended and unintended) consequences of their combined data-informed decisions and actions. Based on our research insights, we propose a new direction in BI&A research, extending and combining previous research in BI&A, Analytics-as-a-Service and Consumer Information Systems.