Business intelligence (BI) solutions help to process, retrieve, analyze and report data that make informed business decisions. With BI solution you can integrate multiple data sources, prepare AI-driven data and analyze them, access data with control, perform scheduled & ad-hoc reporting, and gain interactive visualization.
A robust BI tool must have some features which you look for. These are briefly discussed as below-
| Feature | What to look for |
| General | Cloud and on-premises deployment.Personal and team workspaces. Collaborating on and sharing analytics results. |
| Data ingestion | Structured and unstructured data.Big data.Operational data.Streaming data.Self-service data ingestion. |
| Data management | Self-service data preparation.Pre-built ETL.Support of complex data models. |
| Reporting and visualization | Interactive dashboards.Pre-built and customizable visuals.Scheduled and ad-hoc reporting.Embedded reporting.Mobile-optimized reporting.Geospatial data mapping.Data storytelling. |
| Analytics | Online Analytical Processing (OLAP).Data mining.Predictive analytics.Automated insights based on ML and AI.Real-time data analysis. |
| Security | Report-level security.Workspace-level security.Row-level security.Flexible authentication options.Application activity auditing. |
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Top 10 BI tools on the market
1.Tableu
Tableau is a recognized leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and BI Platforms.
FEATURES
- It provides native connectors to 75+ data sources,
- You can perform predictive analytics,
- Provides support for ‘no-code’ data queries,
- Offers a wide range of visualizations,
- Leverages interactive reports and dashboards,
- Facilitates collaboration and sharing insights,
- Provides robust security.
2.Power BI
It is one of the leaders among enterprise BI platforms in the Forrester Wave and considered as number one on the Gartner 2020 Magic Quadrant for Analytics and BI platforms.
FEATURES
- Pre-built connectors with 100+ data sources,
- Power Query,
- support for DAX,
- SQL, R and Python,
- big data support
- rich visuals and advanced security capabilities,
- Azure Machine Learning (for Power BI Premium).
- self-service data preparation and analysis,
- AI-powered data modeling using AutoML,
- Cognitive Services,
3.Qlik
This is another leading BI platform that provides strong ML and AI capabilities according to Gartner and Forrester.
FEATURES
- Broad data connectivity which includes big data streams, file-based data, on-premises or cloud data
- suggested insights
- advanced data preparation
- natural language interaction
- associative analytics engine
- mobile and embedded analytics
- self-service visual data discovery capabilities
- deployment flexibility (on-premises, cloud, multi-cloud).
4.SQL Server Reporting services
This is an on-premises set of tools and services using which you can create, deploy and manage mobile and offline reports.
FEATURES
- We can retrieve regular and on-demand reports depending on data retrieved from relational, XML-based and multidimensional data sources
- You can get automated alerts on vital business events
- We can get content access from a web browser,
- You can control content access from mobile devices, or email.
5.Microstrategy
According to Gartner’s 2020 Critical Capabilities for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms report it has obtained the highest scores for Enterprise Analytics and Embedded Analytics according.
FEATURES
- HyperIntelligence (embedded BI),
- a library of interactive visuals,
- heterogeneous data access,
- predictive analytics and R modeling,
- self-service data preparation,
- mobile analytics and reporting
- real-time reports and dashboards
6.IBM Cognos Intelligence
IBM® Cognos® Business Intelligence is an integrated business intelligence suite and provides a wide range of functionality that helps to understand an organization’s data. Anyone connected with the business can use this tool to view or create business reports, monitor events, analyze data so that they can make effective business decisions. IBM Cognos is rich in features as follows:
- You can obtain limitless BI workspace and deliver a range of BI capabilities to take smarter decisions. Some of the tasks you can perform using this tool arequery and reporting, analysis, service oriented architecture based dashboarding and scorecarding, real-time monitoring,predictive analytics and many more.
- You can obtain fact based decision. Its query and reporting capabilities fits the needs of users across the organisation.
- With the analysis capabilities of IBM Cognos, users can explore information intuitively and easily and can make smarter business decisions
- Cognos statistics capabilities is powered by IBM SPSS Statistics Engine, which makes it easy to incorporate statistical results with core business reporting. This reduces the time it takes to analyse data and prepare business presentations based on that analysis.
- Cognos offers many extended BI services like Cognos Mobile, Cognos Active Report, Cognos for Microsoft Office and Cognos Mashup Service.
- Collaboration capabilities within Cognos Business Intelligence facilitate decision-making for groups and teams. With this solution, users can build stronger relationships and learn from history with a centralised, searchable corporate memory. Cognos Collaboration helps teams maximise their efficiency and ensure the most effective use of resources when making important decisions.
7. Oracle BI
Oracle BI is a comprehensive business intelligence software that provides lots of enterprise business intelligence functionalities. All such functionalities offer the full range of business intelligence capabilities, including dashboards, proactive intelligence, full ad hoc, and alerts, and many more. Typically, organizations track and store large amounts of data about products, prices, customers, activities, contacts, assets, employees, opportunities, and other elements. Furthermore, this data is often spread across multiple databases in different locations with different versions of database software.
8.SAP Business Intelligence
SAP’s market-leading BI solution is ideal for real-time business intelligence (BI) and predictive analytics that give the decision-makers the insight they need to predict new developments, respond to challenges before they happen, and capitalize on future trends. SAP business intelligence makes it easy for a business to extract forward-looking insights from Big Data, by harnessing the power of R and creating stunning data visualizations with ease.
9.SAS BI
According to Forrester, SAS has not only been a market leader in advanced predictive analytics, but also a provider of a formidable BI platform. SAS is a well-integrated, one-stop platform, and one of its significant parts is BI capabilities. SAS provides scalability, excellent data integration, multiple query languages, internationalization, customization through a rich set of APIs, advanced analytics tools, MDM, performance management, and reporting and querying. SAS ranks eighth on a number of Forrester BI inquiries. Recent market survey data indicates that 14% of corporate customers depend on SAS for their BI needs.
10.Rapid Insight
Rapid Insight is a leading provider of business intelligence and automated predictive analytics software. It focuses on ease of use and efficiency. Rapid Insight products enable users to turn their raw data into actionable information. The company’s analytic software simplifies the extraction and analysis of data, enabling clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies to fully utilize their information for data-driven decision-making.