About This Constellation ShortList™
The embedded analytics platform for cloud applications market has evolved: vendors must now deliver governed, metric-rich decision content—not just dashboards—directly within enterprise applications and workflows. Increasingly, vendors are leveraging KPI’s and insights to power event-driven agents and automated responses across systems. As analytics weave deeper into SaaS ecosystems, leaders will also need to prioritize platforms that treat KPIs as firstclass, traceable artifacts that can be embedded across application, analytics, and automation layers.
This shortlist evaluates platforms that natively embed governed KPIs, predictive alerts, and GenAI copilots into cloud-native applications like ERP, CRM, and HCM, while also exposing analytics via APIs and decision services. Embedded analytics are necessarily supported by consistent semantic layers, API‑exposed decision services, and GenAI‑enhanced narrative insight. Evaluation emphasizes security, lifecycle governance, and predictive/workflow orchestration.
Use cases include predictive service case escalation in CRM based on sentiment analytics, Manufacturing anomaly alerts inserted into MES and ERP with downstream supply-chain triggers, and GenAI-generated executive summaries of financial performance embedded in planning systems.
New this year: Emphasis has shifted toward decision lifecycle orchestration, embedding metrics/language models into agentic workflows, beyond traditional BI anchoring.
Threshold Criteria
Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:
- Delivers a consistent platform-based approach to managing application data and embedding visualizations, or complete dashboards into key decision points within ERP, CRM, HCM, and other cloud-based applications
- Provides consistent unified data modeling, key performance indicators (KPIs), business logic, access control, governance, and two-way contextual interactivity between apps and analytics
- Offers prebuilt use-case-specific content: metrics, models/extensions, dashboards, and data connectors/ integrations optimized for business roles and industries.
- Supports extensibility to the data model and to integrate third-party data, extend semantic models, and embed insights across heterogeneous environments.
- Offers low-code/no-code tools to modify or create alerts, workflows, or decisions based on rule-based or ML-driven conditions.
- Offers predictive capabilities that support proactive action and automation with built-in forecasting, anomaly detection, and GenAI-generated summaries or narratives for business users.
- Supports composable, API-driven analytics services that can be embedded in any UI or process, with workflow integration to automate or orchestrate decisions across business applications.
The Constellation ShortList™
Constellation evaluates more than 20 solutions categorized in this market. This Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share and internal research.
- Infor Birst and Infor CloudSuites
- Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Oracle Analytics Cloud and Oracle Fusion Cloud applications
- SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP applications
- Salesforce CRM Analytics and Salesforce applications
- Zoho Analytics and Zoho applications
Frequency of Evaluation
Each Constellation ShortList will be updated once per year. There could be an update after six months, should the analyst deem it necessary.
Evaluation Services
Constellation clients may work with the analyst and research team to conduct a more thorough discussion of this Constellation ShortList. Constellation can also provide guidance in vendor selection and contract negotiation.
