The best software for business intelligence is an excellent tool to make your reports look more beautiful and attractive. All the business intelligence software can help you improve your business productivity. Business intelligence (BI) provides the standard method to present the data, but if you want to make your BI more powerful or simply present all data in a more visually appealing way, then consider using some of these tools. These softwares are listed as the best ones include Tableau Software, QlikTech, Cognos (IBM) and Sisense among others.
We all know that big data is big business. Business analytics is the process of examining data to identify patterns and draw conclusions. The tools and techniques used by a company’s business intelligence team play a huge role in the speed, quality and cost-effectiveness of a BI project. Every business – from Apple, Google or even a small pizza shop – has needs for data collection, management, storage and analysis. No matter what type of software your business is using for business intelligence, it’d still be smart to ensure the best possible final solution by taking advantage of 3rd party software. With any software, there are two major costs involved . First, there will be the upfront cost to buy the software license from its vendor .
We’ve researched the best business intelligence software according to user popularity and major features. Compare the best BI software in the chart below, and read on to learn more about how these analytics platforms can improve your business outcomes. For a custom set of recommendations of the best BI software for your company, try our Product Selection Tool at the top of the page.
What is business intelligence software?
Business intelligence (BI) software is a set of tools used by companies to retrieve, analyze, and transform data into useful business insights, usually within easy-to-read visualization like charts, graphs, and dashboards. Examples of business intelligence tools include data visualization, data warehouses, interactive dashboards, and reporting tools. In contrast to competitive intelligence that analyzes data from outside sources, a BI application pulls internal data that the business produces into an analytics platform for deep insights into how different parts of the business affect one another.
As big data—the tendency for companies to collect, store, and mine their business data—has gained in prominence, so has the popularity of BI software. Companies generate, track, and compile business data at a scale never before seen. And the ability to integrate cloud software directly with proprietary systems has further driven the need to combine multiple data sources and take advantage of data preparation tools. But all this data is nothing if we can’t make sense of it and use it to improve business outcomes.
To make informed choices, businesses need to base their decisions on evidence. The mountains of data that businesses and their customers produce contain evidence of purchasing patterns and market trends. By aggregating, standardizing, and analyzing that data, businesses can better understand their customers, better forecast revenue growth, and better protect themselves against business pitfalls.
Business intelligence has traditionally taken the form of quarterly or yearly reports that report on a defined set of key performance indicators (KPIs), but today’s software-backed business intelligence tools work continuously and at light speed. These insights can help a company choose a course of action in a matter of minutes.
BI software interprets a sea of quantifiable customer and business actions and returns queries based on patterns in the data. BI comes in many forms and spans many different types of technology. This guide compares the top business intelligence software vendors, breaks down the three major stages data must go through to provide business intelligence, and provides considerations for purchasing BI for different sized businesses.
Tableau
Tableau specializes in making beautiful visualizations, but much of their advertising is focused on corporate environments with data engineers and bigger budgets. There’s a public (free) version of the tool, but with limited capabilities. The more you pay the more you can access with Tableau, including benchmarked data from third parties. The software also has a non-profit tool and versions for academic settings.
Sisense
Sisense is a business intelligence (BI) software that provides analytic solutions and market insights for small to enterprise-level businesses. Sisense is one of only a few fully-functioning BI software systems that let non-technologically inclined users combine multiple data sets, customize dashboards, generate data visualizations, and share them with other users. This web-based BI solution unifies data into one centralized location without the use of hardware or IT departments.
Domo
Domo is a powerful business intelligence (BI) software that delivers a wide data set and connector support. It provides unique social collaboration capabilities. Domo is designed to assist businesses in finding effective solutions in a world full of ever-changing business challenges. With Domo, users can see real-time data utilizing a single dashboard that is visually appealing and easy to use, helping businesses take informed actions from the insights gained.
4. Sisense
The business intelligence tool of Fortune 500 companies
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REASONS TO BUY
+Rapid deployment+Incorporates AI+White label analytics
SiSense is a business intelligence tool that seeks to simplify the complexities of data analysis by building in IoT, machine learning and AI into their platform. They claim it is so simple and streamlined, that you can go from “data to dashboard in just 90 minutes.” While we can argue the validity of that claim, their list of clients, including the likes of GE, Philips, Fujitsu, NBC and Airbus would back up that this is a top tier product.
Main features include the ability to embed white label analytics with customizations, mashup live or cached data, analyze data across your entire landscape or focus on specific areas such as object, data, or system.
Sisense is an enterprise BI program that can be run in the cloud, or on premises. However, there no flat-rate pricing is provided for either model. Their custom pricing is based on an annual subscription model, but it requires a price quote, and is unfortunately not available on their website.
5. Zoho Analytics
A tool from folks that have a cloud-based approach in their DNA
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REASONS TO BUY
+Support to collect data from many sources+Visually attractive dashboard+Availability of free trial
REASONS TO AVOID
-Requires purchase on annual basis
Zoho Analytics is the business intelligence tool from the folks that have plenty of experience with web-based business tools, namely the venerable Zoho Office. Zoho Reports is a robust solution, that can integrate data from a variety of files, including Microsoft Office documents, URL feeds, and databases, such as MySQL, along with applications, of course from Zoho, but also outside their ecosystem including data from the cloud from Box, DropBox, Google Drive and other applications (for example Salesforce, Quickbooks and Google Analytics).
Data can then be blended via integrated mathematical and statistical formulas, for example marketing costs in an Excel file, with sales data in a cloud database, to create a visually attractive and informative report. This is all done via a simple online interface, and functions can be applied via a simple drag and drop, with reports that can be easily viewed via the portal, or also printed or emailed.
After the short fifteen day free trial, there are several pricing plans, but all are billed at an annual rate which requires more commitment than some smaller businesses may be looking to make.
Other business intelligence tools to consider
We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to BI, as there are many providers in the market. However, the caveat is always that a software platform is only as good as its programmers, and data always needs to be the best quality – too many managers presume that processes and workflows are being correctly followed when they may not be and therefore undermine analyzes. Additionally, while there are comprehensive BI tools available there are also ones that focus on particular areas, such as sales or distribution, in order to provide more detailed and focused insights:
Looker is another full-spectrum analytics and business intelligence platform that provides real-time reporting. To get the most out of it some MySQL knowledge would be helpful, but training materials are provided as required. Even without, Looker is an easy to use platform for data discovery that can accommodate a number of third-party sources.
Qualtrics Research Core is more focused on working through developing, collating, and analyzing survey data, and uses its own AI to tease out trends and actionable insights. This can be especially useful when applied to sales and marketing campaigns for analyzing not just results but can also be used to identify ideal price points.
Adobe Analytics is a tool especially dedicated to tracking the customer journey online, and provides data to analyze how to more effectively engage with them according to their sources, ie, social media. It’s able to work with complex databases to generate quick results, which can then be exported or printed easily.
- We’ve also featured the best business laptops.
Conclusion
Business Intelligence is a set of tools and techniques to help you make the right decisions in your business. It helps in understanding what is going on in your business, by capturing data from all directions. This data is then analysed and presented in a manner that allows you to take corrective action before it’s too late.